


Wings of Strife

by GrumpyScrollwyrm



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Major Character Injury, Multi, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 90,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25622314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyScrollwyrm/pseuds/GrumpyScrollwyrm
Summary: It has been three years since the death of the Queen Oasis. Three years of bloody, unceasing war, that already claimed the lives of countless of innocents.Queen Coral's younger sister, princess Deluge - current Commander of the SeaWing forces as well as coucillor of War is leaving her NightWing husband and their daughter alone again, in the Sea Kingdom, to make a change on the frontlines that will hopefully lead towards the end of the war. Her efforts however are noticed by other, previously uninvolved and quiet kingdom, which seeks to prolong the war for their own reasons, while at the same time not being able to withstand the worry for her mother's life, the young dragonet decides to turn to the forgotten arts, to protect Deluge from danger. However the outside attacks are not the only threat that can weigh on the outcome of her war effort as invisible scar on Deluge's mind, that she previously tried to hide, starts to show up. During the time in which the enemies grow more numerous with each passing day and allies start turning their backs on the SeaWing princess, would she be able to endure the adversity and true to her promise, return to her family?
Comments: 30
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

“Mother, please don't leave me again!” begged the small, dark blue dragonet with desperation in her dark green, intelligent eyes.

The Seawing in question seemed not to be overly concerned by her daughter, sorrowfully hugging her front leg. No, her mind was occupied by the excitement of the battles to come, the cruel SkyWings falling from their sky, their fire and claws completely useless against her newest inventions. She saw enough fellow Seawings burning alive, or slaughtered by sky dragons’ swift talons. Finally, after countless hours spent in libraries, drawing new weapon and armor schemes with her husband, convincing other councillors and her sister, queen Coral, to the employment of the new, expensive solutions to counter SkyWing menace, and then training her talon-picked dragons in the new type of organised force she was creating... She finally was able to assemble, while not numerous, an elite unit of SeaWings, capable of crushing any SkyWing opposition, at least on paper. Heralds of the Tide, she named them, as she planned to use them as a vanguard, preparing ground for a true invasion.

_They won't expect us to actually have a range advantage over their firebrea-_

“Please Deluge!” dragonet cried out. “I barely know you! I-i... Please, just spend some time with me…”

“Sapphire,” adult SeaWing responded harshly. “How many times do I need to explain to you, that being a commander and a war councillor doesn’t leave me with much time to spend with you?”

Tiny dragonet curled up beneath Deluge’s talons fearfully, unexpecting her mother’s angry reaction.

_Woah, that wasn’t really motherly, right? She is your daughter for Pyrrhia’s sake!_

Deluge embraced her dragonet with her wing, while softening her expression.

“You know I would do so if I could...” SeaWing continued calmly this time, gently stroking her daughter’s head. “This war already lasted for three entire years. It took the lives of more SeaWings than any other conflict recorded in the last century. You… You will understand when you grow up.”

“I DON’T WANT TO GROW UP WITHOUT YOU!” the dragonet's cry echoed in the spacious marble hall, when tears started running down her cheeks. She embraced her mother’s leg again. “I WANT TO HAVE A MOM!”

“Darling, believe me, I’m doing this only to protect you and the Sea Kingdom,” Deluge said calmly, wiping Sapphire’s tears. “If this war would last any longer, we will start running out of fighting force. Dragons who don’t want to take any part in it will have to become soldiers. And as I expect Coral will try to even draft you into a military, just to spite me. You don’t want to go to war, to kill dragons, don't you?”

“I- I never-,” Sapphire started, feeling smaller than usual, expressing true horror on her face and trembling with fear.

“Sapphire, your mother didn’t mean to scare you. She just meant to say that she cares about you,” the NightWing with a blue cloak on his back said, giving a harsh look to his wife, while entering the room. “And we both are concerned about your safety, Deluge.”

“But you know that I can handle myself, especially in combat,” Seawing responded. “Every single time I returned to you.”

Nightwing looked at his wife’s deep scar on the chest left by the scavenger spear, her half-missing horn and various small, barely visible bruises on her underscales. The dragonet shook herself out of her mother’s embrace, took off and soared around the crystal chandelier, landing on the elevated balcony above her parents' heads. Soon enough they heard their daughter's tiny talons rattling against the blue marble floor of Deluge's manor's second floor. She was going to her room.

“Uhm, and I can’t count how many times they carried you back to me and I had to nurse you back to health,” NightWing pointed out, making Deluge look back at him. “And could you stop frightening Sapphire? She’s just a young dragonet who wants to spend some time with you, so don’t blame her for that.”

“I just told her the truth,” Deluge responded. “Our spies delivered the news that SkyWings and IceWings started training their dragonets in warfare already.”

“But is it the right thing to talk about such things to a four year old dragonet, really!?” NightWing snarled angrily. “You know that she is small, weak and afraid of any idea of experiencing war. She wouldn’t survive a second in real combat.”

_That’s exactly why she is such a disappointment. When she hatched I imagined her and her brother to be powerful dragons, combining the strongest traits of both NightWings and SeaWings. Instead, one dragon died in his egg, while the second was just weak and skinny, no strong SeaWing tail or body, no firebreath at all. But despite all of this I do love her. Even though I may not know how to show it properly..._

“You’re right, I will apologise to her before I leave.” Deluge said. “Grrr, if she only wasn’t so _peculiar._ ”

“You’re her mother. Why can’t you just accept her for who she is?” NightWing snapped angrily. “All you are thinking about is war all the time. It was a mistake helping you with all of that research. At this point you probably care about your war more than about us.”

_Wait.. NO! What if I will hint that I’m planning to retire?_

“I never thought that is more important than you. I just want to make sure it all won’t fall apart after I quit,” SeaWing responded. “That’s why after this campaign, I think that I will retire from my duty, and Tempest will replace me on my rank. I just want to ensure that she is competent enough to lead after I’m finally done with all of that. I miss you both more than you can imagine.”

“You- really?” black dragon asked in surprise. Then he looked her straight in the eyes, with hope. “Deluge, promise me that you will do so.”

_Maybe this is the way after all… He really wants me to be with him..._

“Silentskies, I promise,” Deluge swore. “This campaign and no more. I will finally spend time with you and Sapphire. She needs a mother after all.”

NightWing embraced his wife strongly and twined his tail around hers.

“Just stay safe, please,” Silentskies said.

“You know I always do,” Deluge smiled.

Then they heard a noise of wings flapping and metal clanking and soon enough, the doors of the balcony busted open revealing a cheerful, green male SeaWing, wearing full plate armor, which only exposed his face and wings. On his shoulders the insignia of the Royal SeaWing Guard could be seen.

“Your Majesty, Prince Silentskies!” SeaWing approached, while bowing ridiculously low, nearly kissing the ground. “I hope I’m not interrupting this rather intimate moment, but the Heralds are ready to swim!”

“Delta, I swear, if you would call me a "majesty" one more time I will hit you with my tail,” Deluge said with a huge smile on her face. “Always so annoyingly appropriate...”

“You know that I'm trying my best!” he laughed. “Ohh, Don’t give me your sinister I’m-so-angry look, Silentskies. Bloodfin and I won’t let anything bad happen to your beloved wife.”

“I hope so, Delta!” NightWing said, cheering up slightly at the sight of his wife's good friend. “If she tries charging alone into the entire SkyWing squadron again, make sure to drag her back to the camp by her tail.”

“Sure as sunshine chief!” Delta grinned at the frowning Deluge. “So, when will you join us, princess-warrior-commander?”

“I’ll just say goodbye to my husband and daughter and we’re ready to go,” dragoness answered.

“Alright then, I‘ll wait for you with the others, you know where,” Delta said and backed away, closing the doors loudly behind himself. Deluge and Silentskies looked in each other’s eyes, but were interrupted again.

This time the other doors opened and Sapphire staggering, entered the room where both dragons stood. When she was close to Deluge she nearly fell over, but Silentskies caught her at the last moment.

“Are you alright?” NightWing asked his daughter. “You look dizzy.”

“Y-yes… Just a bit cold,” Sapphire responded weakly and she extended her talon holding a silver necklace encrusted with flawlessly shaped rubies. “I wanted to give something to my mom, before she leaves.”

Sapphire reached out and gave the necklace to her mother. Deluge shivered slightly when she touched the cold metal. Her eyes widened more and more, as she started to examine the masterfully crafted jewelry piece. Various dragons were carved into the metal and around the largest, middle gem were the engraved words: “For my beloved mother, so she may always return safely to her family.”

_It’s so beautiful! It must’ve costed a fortune!_

“Woah, where did you get that jewelry?” dragoness asked, baffled by the mastery of the craft. “It’s… flawless...”

“I crafted it myself,” the dragonet responded sorrowfully. “You would’ve known that, if you at least would try to spend some time with me. But whatever. Could you please always have it on your neck, on your campaign?”

“Uhm… sure,” Deluge kept eyeing the gems, nearly hypnotised by their beauty. “It’s such a masterpiece… Thank you, my darling.”

She stepped closer to Sapphire and embraced her with her wings. Dragonet quickly wriggled away from her mother’s warm embrace and looked her straight in the eyes.

“Can you try the necklace now?” Sapphire asked, with visible anticipation. “I want to see if it really fits you.”

“Sure thing,” Deluge obliged. She raised the necklace above her head, and let it slide down her neck, fitting perfectly. Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation spreading through her entire body from the place where the oddly cold silver touched her scales. She shuddered, and her daughter staggered, like she had lost control over her body, but again Silentskies caught her in the last moment, now looking truly concerned about Sapphire, and somewhat… Suspicious?

“I think I really need to go to bed,” The small dragonet stated, strangely, exhaling with relief, while climbing her father’s back. “Stay safe, mom.”

“Yes, I will, my dear Sapphire,” Deluge responded, and watched her husband carry the blue dragonet back to her room. “Oh! And I’m sorry that I was harsh on you today. When I come back to you, please show me how you create such beautiful trinkets!”

“I’m sure you didn’t want to be mean. I will show it to you… Gladly,” She responded weakly, waving her talon at her mother, and disappeared behind the door to her room, with NightWing.

SeaWing waved back, and sat down, curling her tail around her front legs.

_Woah, that was an odd feeling. But maybe it was just cold metal. She nearly passed out when I tried the necklace? Or maybe it’s just her, growing up? Some dragonets have these kind of issues, especially her age. Hmph, she should be fine with Silentskies around, he is a good, caring parent. Unlike me._

Deluge shooed away her last thought, straightening her tail with irritation. She heard her husband’s footsteps, indicating his return. He walked to her swiftly and embraced her with his wings.

“How do you feel now? Are you alright? You don’t feel any dizziness, nausea, anything?” he asked with care.

“Uhh… I’m feeling alright,” Deluge responded. “What’s the matter with those questions?”

“Umm...” Silentskies hesitated. “I just wanted to make sure that you are feeling fine before your dangerous expedition, my love.”

_You're such a bad liar, my dear. Especially when you are doing one of your I-suspect-something faces._

“Mhm. Yeeeah...” Deluge squinted at him. “You’re hiding something from me.”

“It’s not that, just… Oh, nevermind,” NightWing responded and twined his tail around hers, and hugged her, changing the topic. “I’m always worried that something bad might happen to you when you are fighting your queen’s wars. Now that I can’t follow, it’s even worse. Please, my love, stay safe and return to me.”

He looked at her with his loving, deep blue eyes, showing true affection.

“You know I will,” Deluge responded, rolling her eyes. “One way, or the other. Alive or...”

“Don’t say such things!” Silenskies screamed, strengthening his hug so much, she gasped in surprise, almost losing her breath. “I can’t live without you. I can’t bear the thought that you might not return to me one day.”

She felt his tears running down her neck, as he started sobbing, with his head buried in her scales. Deluge gently stroked his head, and wiped his tears.

“Please don’t cry. I didn’t mean to say that. Sorry,” she said awkwardly. “What if someone sees you like that?”

“Well, they are free to see that I love you,” he said and raised his head to look at her. “I hope that’s not a problem for you.”

“Of course it’s not,” SeaWing quickly responded. “I’m just saying that a lot of dragons of my kind still haven’t accepted our relationship. Especially since there’s still a rather heated debate, whether you should become a prince or not. Same for Sapphire, really.”

“Hmph. Numerous SeaWings still are spitting on the side when they see me. But while I already stopped caring about it, Sapphire can’t attend normal school, because other dragonets were abusing her, both verbally and physically, and even the principal was on the side of the bullies,” Silentskies said, with sadness in his eyes. “I can’t count how many times she came back to me, weeping how everyone was calling her “an abomination”, “dirty crossbreed”, or telling her that she should have died in her egg. I had to arrange her private lessons with Webs, that odd, scrollwyrm dragonet.”

Deluge growled angrily, flaring up her wings and releasing them from NightWing’s embrace.

“Who was bullying her? WHY HAVEN’T YOU TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?” dragoness hissed in quiet fury, digging her hind claws into the marble floor. “Give me the names. I will send dragons to find them and make them regret for what they said. We will see how they would spit their poison after they’ve been fed with their own tongues.”

“Please don’t do that. Those were just dragonets, they don’t deserve to suffer their entire life for the mistakes of their dragonethood. It’s the past, and Sapphire now is feeling better about herself,” NightWing sighed. “And you’ve never asked. You were always too occupied with your war and schemes. You never tried to help me or Sapphire in our problems. Never lived our everyday life with us”

“I don’t think you should be surprised that I hold our home's safety with such high regard,” Deluge responded, annoyed, digging her claws even deeper into the floor and straightening her wings.

_Why is he upset that I’m trying to protect his and Sapphire’s safe life in the Sea Kingdom? Can’t he see how much I’m sacrificing to provide this to them!?!? He is living his comfortable life, and his only concern are some insults thrown by some lowborn dragons! I’d love to have these kind of problems instead of risking my own life nearly every day!_

“Yes, I shouldn’t be,” Silentskies said with sadness, noticing his wife’s angry reaction. He laid his wings askew at his side, and looked down at the floor. “Be safe Deluge… And return to me when you are ready to finally… Be with me. I will miss you greatly, my love.”

_Ungrateful lizard._

SeaWing snarled in anger, opened the balcony door and entered the terrace overlooking their own island. The moonlight illuminated her blue scales. She hesitated, looked back at the NightWing who swiftly followed her. He extended his wings to embrace her, but she dodged his advances and took off into the air and dove straight toward the waves.

* * *

Long after the blue dragoness disappeared in the sea, the NightWing still watched the calm waves mournfully. He shed a tear, as he always did when his wife couldn’t understand how much he missed her. How much he was afraid of the real possibility of her death. How much he hated all those scornful looks of the SeaWings. How much he wanted to leave the Sea Kingdom when he was alone with his daughter there.

_Does she still love me? Would she even care if I disappeared?_

“Silentskies?” voice from the darkness called. NightWing jumped, seeing the dark shape in the far corner of the balcony. He opened his mouth to call the guards, but then the voice added quickly. “It’s me.”

NightWing swiftly approached the source of the familiar voice and set the nearest brazier on fire. He gasped in surprise, seeing the flame revealing shapes known to him. Dragon in front of him had beautiful, shiny black scales and purple eyes that looked like they contained the starry night sky within.

“S-sister?” He began and brushed her wings with his. “I thought you died in the eruption! How are you alive!? Where have you been!? I thought I would never see you again, Starsight!”

“That is not important,” she interrupted. “What matters now is that our queen finally took an interest in the SandWing war. I don’t know why but she seeks to prolong it. She sent me and others because of her concern for your wife. And her regiment. Especially their possible impact on the war.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” he asked, but he had already connected the dots in his mind.

“If your SeaWing creates too much of an impact in this conflict, she...” Starsight stated, with a troubled look on her face. “Will have to disappear.”

“And… You work as an assassin....” Silentskies began, as the horrible truth hit him. He grabbed her talons with his. “No! Please Starsight, you can’t do this to her!”

“I know and that’s why I came here,” she responded, while her brother placated and released her talons. “She needs to abandon Blister's war, or she will have to face the risk of being assasinated. I mean what even are Deluge's reasons to follow her, anyway? She ignited the worldwide conflict to inherit the throne; instead of earning it in a honorable way. And Deluge is your wife, for Pyrrhia's sake! Talk her out of it!”

“That wouldn’t work, believe me,” Silentskies said bitterly. “If it ever did, we would be both looking after our daughter and enjoying each other’s company every day.”

Starsight raised her brows, looking directly at her brother. He frowned at her and shook his head.

_Do you think that convincing a SeaWing princess to do something differently is easy!?_

“Aaanyway, from the intel I received, she won’t be an easy target to kidnap or poison,” Starsight pointed out, reaching for notes in the pouch hanging from her neck. She put them in the light of the brazier and started reading. “Employs food tasters, loyal guards, nearly always on high alert. Hmmmm… And we haven’t even mentioned the entire unit of elite soldiers under her command.”

“Maybe she will be safe...” NightWing looked hopefully over his sister’s shoulder at her notes, while she shook her head.

“Unlikely. Sooner or later the assassins will discover some weakness in her defenses, which will be exploited.” she remarked. “Hmmm… Is she loving her daughter?”

“What do you mean?” NightWing demanded.

“If something bad would’ve happened to her, would Deluge return?” Starsight asked him, looking into his eyes intensively.

_I wish I would’ve known that. She always explains that she does all of this to me, her and the entire Sea Kingdom. When I proposed her escaping with our Sapphire, she refused angrily. She always enjoyed the war and the tactics involved. Possibly too much. But what if she loves war more than her own family and only uses the altruistic reasons as an excuse? No. It can’t be true._

“Of course!” Silentskies exclaimed, after a moment of hesitation. “At least I think. But I won’t let you harm Sapphire. Why would you ask me about such things!?”

“Oh, it’s nothing just throwing some ideas,” Starsight said, but gave him a very odd glance, like she got her own answers.

Silentskies looked at his sister and finally noticed how scrawny she was.

_Woah, if even royal officials are starving, the situation in Night Kingdom must be truly desperate..._

Although her underbelly was visibly swollen compared to the rest of her body, like she was… But no, when Deluge had eggs, it wasn’t visible at all, however she was not underfed like Starsight though...

“Could you possibly take care of one more dragonet?” She asked shyly, noticing where he was looking. “Yes, I’m carrying an egg. I managed to keep it a secret, despite it being… planned. Also I don’t want my dragonet to live in this cursed volcano, where I would have to train it to become an-”

“WOAH, yes I can do that, but how did this happen?” Silentskies interrupted, surprised. “I’ve always thought you never wanted to start a family.”

Starsight sighed with sadness and sat down on the cold marble floor. Dragoness raised her head to look at Silentskies.

“That’s because I never did. I was just very good at eliminating the queen's enemies quietly. She even decided that I should have an apprentice,” she revealed, with her voice trembling, and a tear running down her face. Silentskies gently embraced her with his wing. “I’ve had a private audience with her, in one of her own rooms in the palace. She gave me a rather long speech about how mothers care about their own dragonets… And listed the benefits of how good those apprentices always turned out to be, if they were related closely to their masters… She… She didn’t leave me a choice...”

She groaned and broke into tears, nestling her head on her brother’s shoulder. Silentskies’ eyes widened in horror.

_THREE MOONS! It’s.. It’s… HORRIBLE! If I was back in the Night Kingdom, I would’ve known that before it happened… The queen surely had the best interest of the Kingdom in mind, like she always does, but… NO! This is just atrocious, sick and inexcusable! I could've prevented that, and warned Starsight… My poor, little sister… If I ever see the queen again, I will kill her with my own claws!_

“Listen, Starsight. You can’t come back to the Night Kingdom, if such things happen there, do you understand?” he spoke with a firm voice to his sobbing sibling. “And you can’t follow Deluge in this state. Any travel would be dangerous both to you, and your egg. You are staying here with me.”

“I- I can’t stay here. If I disobey the order or leave, they will kill me. Unlike you, once a lowly spy, I’m the royal assassin,” she responded, with her voice cracking. “They will send dragons after me and you, for helping the “traitor”. I can’t put you in such danger.”

_Sapphire might get in danger as well because of it… Why did such a hard decision just appear out of nowhere? Talons and tails, SHE IS MY SISTER, WHO CAME TO ME FOR HELP! I… I just can’t turn her down..._

“I will protect you, little sister,” Silentskies stated, hugging Starsight lovingly. “I will double the guards on behalf of my wife, I won’t let the NightWings harm you again.”

Dragoness returned the hug, and embraced his neck with her front legs.

“SHRIMP!” He called and soon after when a young orange SeaWing servant, adorned with a golden necklace, containing a large sapphire in the middle, appeared in the the balcony door, tilting her head in curiosity at the sight of the unfamiliar NightWing in Silentskies’ grasp, just as he stated: “This dragon is my sister. She is exhausted and hungry, after her long journey. Prepare the guest room for her and also bring the most nutritious food you can think of to her chamber.”

“Ummm… Yes, sir!” she responded and ran back to the manor, closing the doors with her tail.

“Come, I will show you your new room, it’s very close to mine,” Silentskies said, covering his sister in his warm cloak. “If you would ever need anything, summon the Shrimp, she will see to your needs.”

“I… Don’t know what to say...” Starsight replied, with her voice still trembling from emotion.

“You don’t have to say anything, Starsight. I love you and I would do anything to keep you safe.” He nudged her tail with his and led her through the door to the exquisitely furnished main hall of the mansion.

The warm light of golden lanterns nearly blinded Starsight, who froze in place, and opened her mouth, visibly baffled by the wealth of SeaWings. The great hall was much bigger than one might expect, judging by two, nearly invisible entrances that were dug into the mountainside. At least ten SeaWing and SandWing guards were still patrolling the room, despite the late hour, but the reason for it was lying near the marble walls… Treasure, spoils of war, gold, silver, gems were lying there, before splitting between the soldiers, with a rather small amount still carried back to the Deluge’s hoard. A huge number of the treasure that was present there wasn’t of sea dragon’s origin. There were, among many other glittering valuables lying near the walls, diamond chandeliers, a huge, golden bust of some SkyWing hero, with angry ruby eyes, and several IceWing, SandWing and SkyWing banners, some of them even with claw marks or blood stains, hanging from the walls.

“It looks like you guys are truly profiting from this war,” Starsight noted grimly, while eyeing the torn SandWing banner, which could be mistaken for the SkyWing one, because of the amount of solidified crimson liquid. “Is Deluge some sort of trophy hoarder?”

“Like every single royal dragon,” Silentskies responded. “And since the war itself is only waged on the MudWing, SkyWing and SandWing territory, SeaWings can only profit from it. Sea Kingdom was never raided, because nobody knows where their cities and hoards are located. Except certain NightWings of course.”

“But what if Burn’s or Blaze’s alliance would get a hold of least one map of Sea Kingdom?” she asked curiously.

_Three moons..._

“Starsight, no!” he quickly exclaimed, missing a step and staggering as a result. “Countless SeaWings will die needlessly because of that. They don’t really have any defensive measures to counter outside attacks, except their concealment. They’re slower in the air than most of the dragon tribes, not able to breathe fire… There are not a lot of allied SandWings,or MudWings as both are busy defending their own land… That would be a slaughter… Especially to the island settlements...”

“Then what about Deluge? If I can’t follow or indirectly cause the shift in SeaWing priorities, how do we protect her?” dragoness asked, snorting out a small plume of fire with irritation.

“Don’t worry, we will figure something out, something hopefully not involving deaths of the innocents,” Silentskies responded, looking meaningfully at the various weapon and armor sketches, lying on the nearby table.

_Throwing spears designed to stay in the dragon's flesh after the impact. Stolen from the Night Kingdom and improved to a fletched variant with Deluge. Full-body plate armor. Similar story, but with the difference of adding the fireproof heat-insulating cloth to prevent severe burns, following my own idea…_

“Believe me, I have the experience in tinkering. Especially when it comes to protecting my wife.”


	2. Firestorm

There was a low mist in the cold Sky Kingdom's northern reaches. The sky was tar-black, though some of the pale morning sunbeams streaked through the thick coat of the clouds. Rain was dripping constantly on the red and orange wings, with constant tapping.

_Almost as if the world is mourning the horrible fate that awaits numerous dragons today…._

The sizable force of SkyWings, led by prince Thunderhead himself, the oldest son of queen Scarlet, was swiftly closing in on the smaller, but better equipped and well-organised formation of the IceWings, flying on lower altitude, just several meters above the dense pine forest. They seemed to be completely unaware of incoming danger from above. Four year old dragonet named Firestorm clutched her spear in a tight vice-like grip in a ruby talon, and pulled it close to her golden chest underscales. Though no amounts of anxious grip tightening could've halted the nervous tremors in her body. Her mind lingered on disturbing memories; memories of the horrifying effects of the IceWing frostbreath. Of how much that one SkyWing was screaming after two of his legs just... Broke off his body... How he begged in tears to end his life. Her jaw quaked at the recollection.

_Calm down, Firestorm. Your brother is with you. As long as Snowflare is here you will be fine._

She tried to silence her thoughts by looking to her right side at her only family - the albino dragonet. He tried to maintain his position in formation, but he was missing a wingbeat or two from time to time. Noticing his sister’s gaze he returned her a tense smile, but his red eyes were wide from horror. He then winced from pain as he must've moved his freshly stitched cheek, quietly yelping from pain nearly flying into the SkyWing beside him.

_He is afraid too… May the three moons guide us…_

Suddenly prince sounded the horn. Three loud, thundering sounds overwhelmed Firestorm's ears, making her wince in pain, but even worse followed as the cries from hundred mouths, shouted in unison: “FOR SCARLET!!! THE SKIES ARE OURS!!!”

_It- It’s time to dive… May the light of the moons preserve us..._

Firestorm folded her wings and accelerated in her descent, following the orange dragon in front of her. The wind howled in her ears and eyes making them tear up a little bit, as she struggled to keep her wings straight, fighting with the opposition of the air.

_P-please d-don't break._

The IceWings finally noticed their approach, and blew their own horns. Some of them lowered their altitude, but the majority maintained their position, and started forming a glittering defensive formation, pointing their spears and halberds upwards.

At the same time, Firestorm heard another horn signal, this time coming from her wing leader, ordering the SkyWings to form a lance formation, and engage the side of the IceWing formation. She slowed down her descent slightly, and steered herself to the right. The Icewings’ white-silver spear wall was closing so fast… All screams went silent. The dragons from both of the opposing forces opened their mouths, preparing their own fire and frostbreaths respectively. Firestorm did this as well, and closed her eyes in panic.

_I’m going to die. I’m so going to die._

And then it began. She breathed her fire with all of her strength, and felt the immediate cold wind in the retaliation. Suddenly the relative silence was broken with the roaring and screaming. Something scraped her golden underscales. Something wet and cold sprayed all over her. She opened her eyes, and noticed that she was covered in the blue liquid. It was from the ice dragon who was whimpering and gurgling in agony, spitting his own azure blood everywhere, and clutching the horrible laceration in his throat. The orange dragon in front of her raised her halberd to finish the job. Firestorm froze in place, as she couldn’t look away from the dying dragon. He was horrified, just like her. He wasn’t looking like a soulless monstrosity that her combat instructors described to her. Just a dragon, trying to desperately cling to his life. Then the orange dragoness struck the IceWing in the head, splitting his skull open. He fell motionlessly towards the ground. But before Firestorm could suppress her shock, the other SkyWing nearly crashed into her, roaring in agony, trying to remove the spear from his own chest. She looked up, as the spear owner lunged at her, trying to claw her with his massive talons. Firestorm barely dodged his attack, when the SkyWing spear pierced his heart, spraying his cold blood all over the place.

_Wh-Where is Snowflare!?_

Firestorm looked in all directions, but she failed to see her brother in the chaos of the battle. The dragons were flying in all directions roaring, clawing and stabbing each other. She turned back to the orange dragoness, to see that her entire snout was completely frozen in a scream of fear. Then the IceWing spear struck it with such force, that it completely destroyed the frigid head, and the decapitated Skywing corpse disappeared in the sea of claws and wings below. The ice dragoness who did it, fixed her empty blue eyes on Firestorm, and smiled maniacally. Before the red dragonet reacted, the IceWing thrusted the spear directly towards her heart. In the last moment, Firestorm blocked the attack with her own weapon, but the blow was so powerful, that she unwillingly let go of her spear with a surprised yelp of pain. The IceWing continued her relentless offense, trying to stab the dragonet again. Her attack was so fast, that Firestorm desperately put her left front leg on its way to stop it. The spear dug deep into her forearm, and stuck there. She roared in pain and horror, as the blood started pouring out of her wound.

_AGH!!!! SHE STABBED ME!!! Three moons… Is this blood…? Why is there so much of it? Oh no, it’s bad… I CAN’T MOVE!!!_

The IceWing’s smile got even wider, as she pulled back her spear, with the SkyWing on it and opened her mouth. Firestorm screamed in panic, as she was unable to dodge the frostbreath, because IceWing’s weapon held her firmly in place.

But then, the old SkyWing soldier saved her life, sinking his halberd deeply in Icewing’s chest. She stared at her lethal wound in surprise, as he gave her a disgusted look. While the white dragon started falling to the ground, the spearhead broke off, but it was still stuck in Firestorm’s leg. SkyWings from her left and right advanced forward, leaving her behind.

The adult SkyWing flew closer to her, and gave her a compassionate look. Suddenly they heard a loud hissing. The wall of white, freezing steam was approaching them quickly.

_The IceWings that left their formation are back…_

The ice dragons were strafing the entire chaotic battlefield with their frostbreath, completely careless of friendly fire.

_Is this how I die?_

Seeing this, an old dragon caught the Firestorm in his claws, and covered her with his own body. Dragonet closed her eyes. She felt a horrible chill, heard a loud scream of pain, tree branches snapping, and a strong impact. After that… Nothing.


	3. Deluge

“Hmph, questionable,” blue SeaWing, completely clad in black plate armour, lined with gold, noted.

“They were losing though,” her bodyguard replied.

Thirty dragons were observing the SkyWing-IceWing battle that was unfolding just above them, from the safety of a nearby river. The IceWings were breathing their frost on the entire battlefield. Dragons from both sides were disappearing into the forest below, falling under the lethal frigid steam.

“Still not a good reason. Tell me Delta, would you still follow me after I ordered a maneuver that was directly killing soldiers from our unit?” Deluge asked. “If you’d have been nearly killed in this situation?”

“I, ummm...” he started.

“You won’t. At least willingly,” she interrupted. “Sometimes it’s just better to lose a battle, than the loyalty of your soldiers. I’d have ordered a retreat into the forest, to regroup, if I were an IceWing leader. ”

The IceWing attack was stopped by SkyWings who soared upwards from the battlefield to tie them up in melee. The battle continued, but it appeared that ice dragons were winning decisively. The SeaWing commander looked up at the clouds above the battlefield.

“I think Shore and Tempest should be in position now,” she said, now eyeing the battlefield. “Oh look, some SkyWings are flying away already. If we want to snatch the princeling, we have to move our tails right now.”

_I’m still amazed how just two weeks after arriving into the Sky Kingdom such opportunity arises..._

Deluge straightened her enormous wings and flared up her royal stripes, directing their light towards the clouds. Shortly after two groups of heavily armored dragons emerged from their sky concealment, and started approaching the battle below. SeaWing commander looked back at her soldiers behind, signaling with her talon to move out as well. Thirty dragons took off from the river, water dripping from their armors. In seconds the battlefield was surrounded by the tree groups of well-rested sea dragons, circling around it, ready to fight. SkyWings suddenly decided to withdraw. Their prince sounded his horn, and sky dragons began their hasty retreat, straight into SeaWing claws.

_Everything goes according to plan…_

Deluge put her dragons on SkyWing’s way of retreat, while Tempest’s unit cut them off from the back, and Shore’s group tied down the remaining IceWings in combat. Seeing the wall of dark metal surrounding them, and closing in, sky dragons stopped in surprise. They quickly assembled a defensive line around their prince, an orange dragon in golden chestplate.

“PROTECT THE PRINCE!!” several voices shouted, Deluge even noticed a few dragonets squeaking in horrified tones.

_Snakes and centipedes, some of them are not even three years old..._

“Surrender yourselves and no more SkyWing blood will be spilled today!” she shouted to the sky dragons. “SeaWings will treat your prince honorably!! You know that we don’t kill our prisoners!”

Small dragonets looked at their elders, with visible nervousness weaved into every movement they took. Prince Thunderhead stared at the SeaWing commander with his eyes widened from fear. Behind Tempest’s unit the last sounds of battle were dying down, as IceWings were disengaging from the combat with haste, completely crushed, after Shore's heavy charge. An odd silence fell, full of tension.

“We won’t betray our prince!” one of the SkyWings roared angrily. Some of the adult sky dragons grumbled in agreement. Dragonets however… They were absolutely frightened. Deluge noticed that numerous dragons were in immediate need of medical assistance, some of them were carried by others, even the younger ones. Prince Thunderhead was switching his nervous look from Deluge to other SkyWings.

_He wants to surrender, but he is afraid of… His subjects? Interesting... I could get rid of this entire SkyWing unit in minutes, but a lot of dragons will die. Even the prince might get accidentally killed. I will try to approach this matter peacefully._

“We will treat your wounded. I, princess Deluge of the SeaWings guarantee that to you,” she took off her black helmet.

Hearing her name, several SkyWings started whispering to each other. Two dragonets however, one completely white and one with orange scales, threw down their weapons and started flying warily towards the SeaWing positions. The adult SkyWing, the one who was speaking earlier, lunged forward and caught the albino’s throat with his talons. Orange dragonet yelped in shock, and swiftly flew towards the sea dragons.

“Small, slimy ,treacherous lizards!!!” he shouted, and started strangling the writhing white dragonet.

_Three moons, this monster is going to kill that poor child!!_

Not thinking of consequences, Deluge snatched the javelin from her back, quickly judged the distance and threw it towards the SkyWing. Improved weapon design did its job carrying the spear to riduculously long range, not losing the velocity or stability, as shortly after the SeaWing princess heard a roar of pain, and the sky dragon let go of the coughing dragonet, who immediately closed the distance, and approached her with tears in his distressed red eyes. Angry SkyWing in the meantime was clutching a javelin, sticking out of his front leg.

_Perfect throw._

Other sky dragons flinched in surprise, but didn't attack. Deluge extended her talon to two dragonets encouragingly.

_Now this is the opportunity to put up some show for the rest..._

“Please come closer, we won’t hurt you,” she said with a slight smile, and both SkyWings approached, albino one was still so shaken, that he accidentally stumbled into Deluge. Delta clutched his spear warily, but stood back. She gently stroked the white dragonet’s head. He raised his eyes to look at her. “It’s alright little one. You are safe now. What are your names?”

“Hearth...” young orange dragoness replied quietly.

“S-snowflare, l-lady… p-princess..” albino dragon responded in a shaky voice, and started panicking again, as he started babbling wrong titles for Deluge.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind that, Snowflare,” she laughed off his attempts cheerfully and turned her attention towards other SkyWings remaining in the middle of the encirclement and patted Snowflare’s head. “Your dragonets are really wise. If you’d follow your young ones and lay down your weapons, you won’t join your poor brothers and sisters on the ground below.”

Hearing those words Snowflare broke into frantic sobbing.

_Whoops..._

“What happened, young SkyWing?” Deluge asked, confused, as crying dragonet started hugging her armored front leg and folded his wings. Delta started observing SkyWing’s every movement warily.

“M-my sister… I saw how she...” albino dragonet closed his red eyes, with his voice cracking from emotion. “G-got stabbed… and… and...”

“I’m so sorry little one,” she whispered to Snowflare. “After your prince surrenders, we can go and recover her body for proper burial, if you want.”

His mouth opened widely, he started wailing in grief, and buried his small white snout in Deluge’s embrace.

_Congratulations Deluge, you are really good at making dragonets cry!_

“Umm, prince Thunderhead, we are both royals, you know that it is our duty to protect our subjects,” she turned her attention towards the SkyWings again, with a bit embarrassed expression, hugging albino dragonet. “Don’t be the cause of more tragedies, like this poor Snowflare, who lost his sister in this bloodshed.”

“SkyWings, surrender your wea-,” the prince started in a nervous tone, looking at his dragons.

“NO!! Queen Scarlet will banish you for that!” cooper dragoness interrupted, and caught him by his shoulder. Prince looked horribly conflicted, and stressed. He quickly whispered back some words to her.

_Oh, so that’s what is going on here..._

“Come, SkyWing prince, I will treat you honourably as the prisoner,” Deluge said, and smiled encouragingly, as the dragonet stopped crying. “And if you are afraid of Queen Scarlet I can provide a political asylum for you, for a certain price.”

_Maybe I will even push him to become the first king in Pyrrhia’s history? He appears to be rather easy to manipulate… Having a Sky Kingdom as a satellite state would be extremely useful to us..._

“Of course you will, you dirty SeaWing!” a dragon with javelin in his front leg roared furiously. “NightWings got boring? Thirsty for SkyWings now!?”

Deluge felt as if her blood suddenly changed into boiling lava. She exhaled air slowly, but looked down at the cute dragonet, who calmed down in her embrace. His scales were white, but he emitted soothing warmth that she felt through her armor. He was not fireless. He murmured quietly, closing his eyes. He felt safe. He trusted her.

_Ignore what he said, or innocent dragons might die._

She gently stroke Snowflare’s head again.

“Are relations with your mother more important than the lives of your subjects?” Deluge continued calmly. “Don’t be selfish, young prince.”

“You’re right... Scarlet hates me anyway. I won’t allow more dragons to die today,” he said wobbly, threw down his spear on the ground and flew towards Deluge, while sky dragons watched him in surprise, though some were visibly relieved. “We surrender, princess Deluge.”

SkyWings threw down their weapons, some of them hissing angrily.

“Excellent. Seize them,” Deluge gestured to her dragons, and abandoned her friendly smile. “Provide quick first aid for the wounded, and we are flying away with the prince.”

SeaWings immediately dove down on the SkyWings, caught them in their talons, and pinned them down on the small clearing in the forest, a little bit away from the original battlefield. Snowflare looked at Deluge fearfully.

“W-will you take me too?” he asked, twining his tail around her wrist.

“Don’t worry, I will let all dragonets go freely,” she responded, and to her surprise the dragonet hugged her arm stronger.

“No, please!” he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “Y-you were the nicest dragon to me in my entire life… And you saved my life! I-I... Please, let me stay with you...”

“Uhh… Don’t you have a family or something?” Deluge asked.

“N-no, Firestorm...” Snowflare sobbed sadly. “S-she was my only f-family.”

_Three moons, what a clingy dragonet…_

Deluge then noticed that Snowflare had numerous scars and bruises on his body. One of his cheeks had stitches in them. His hind leg was wrapped in dirty bandages.

“Hey, you,” Deluge turned her attention to SkyWing prince. “By the Scorching, what are you doing to your dragonets!?”

He turned to look at her, with visible regret.

“Ah, these ones. They are umm… Selectively bred from our strongest warriors, taken away from them after the hatching, to train from their youngest days, in order to create fiercely loyal soldiers. They are called Queen’s Children.” he responded bitterly. “One of the mother’s most wicked ideas. This white one and his sister were one of the most _defective_ of them all. They apparently never saw a reason to worship my mother as some sort of goddess. That’s why they were punished. Harshly. I was always disgusted by this entire idea.”

“I have nobody to come back to...” the dragonet said mournfully. “And if I return to SkyWings they will hurt me more.”

“That’s true,” the quiet Hearth added grimly. “Especially since me and him openly defied our orders. Not that long ago, one of our clawmates got brutally executed in front of our camp, because she was caught escaping.”

“You are a good and kind dragoness,” Snowflare said quietly, closing his eyes and leaning his snout against her neck. “Please don’t let them kill me.”

_That’s just… so messed up on so many levels… This dragonet is willing to trust a random stranger, just to get away from his tribe. Dragon’s own tribe is where one should feel safe, thrive… Not like this…_

Deluge hugged poor Snowflare with her free front leg. She planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. Her hatred for SkyWing culture rose even more.

_First they kill their animus, fireless or otherwise unique dragonets… Then this… SkyWings… their entire society, beliefs, traditions… It’s purely evil. It needs to be destroyed._

“I won’t let any of those monsters touch you ever again,” she whispered to the albino dragonet. “I will take you with me. Our encampment is not much for dragonets, but at least I won’t require you to take part in any battles to come.”

“T-thank you...” dragonet opened his eyes and shuddered a bit. “C-can I call you my m-mom?”

_Woah… That’s a rather cute sentiment… But that dragon possibly never met a decent adult figure in his life… Would Sapphire or Silentskies like him? My island technically could hold an additional dragonet… Who would I be if I refused?_

“Of course, sweetheart,” she responded.

“I love you mom,” he whispered shyly, closing his eyes and laying his small snout on her shoulder.

Tempest flew up to Deluge, from the ground below.

“We provided first aid for the dragons that required it, but there are some that will still certainly die, unless we get them an animus dragon,” she said. In the meantime Snowflare shivered a bit in Deluge’s embrace, and she covered his ears. “Any further instructions what we should do with those, and what to do with healthy ones, Ma’am?”

“Yes, I think there are… Shred their wings. All of them, we don’t need to risk facing those dragons in the battle anytime in the future. Except dragonets. Spare them from this fate, let them go freely,” Deluge responded. Prince Thunderhead opened his mouth in shock. “Oh, and before you let dragonets go, ask them who was responsible for their… _training_. They will know what you mean. Take the guilty ones, and slit their throats. Slowly. And those who will die anyway… Put them out of their misery, but offer them the SkyWing rites of passage first. But be quick about it as we need to move out very soon.”

“Understood,” Tempest bowed slightly, flew down to her soldiers and started shouting orders.

“Y- YOU LIED TO ME!!!” Thunderhead roared at her. “YOU PROMISED YOU WON’T SPILL ANY SKYWING BLOOD!!!”

“Justice is more important than promises,” Deluge snarled back at him. “If you are too weak to oppose your evil mother, I will do it for you. Those poor dragonets never deserved to be bred and sent to fighting. It’s sick and depraved. I will repair your evil tribe, even if I would have to destroy it first.”

“YOU LYING SEAWING BIT- ARGH!!!” he started, but was interrupted by Delta’s swift and powerful punch to his jaw, which knocked out several of his teeth.

“Careful when you are talking to a lady, you overgrown salamander,” Deluge’s bodyguard said in a low, intimidating tone, shaking his armored talon.

“Thank you, Delta. Unnecessary, but satisfying,” SeaWing commander nodded, and her friend smiled.

“Thoshe dragon’sh were dschust following ordersh” prince said, clutching his bleeding mouth. “Like me...”

“SkyWings… So powerful, yet so fearful of one angry dragon,” Deluge said, and adjusted Snowflare, who was still holding on her front leg. “Have you ever tried rebelling against her?”

“My siblings who tried… Five of my sisters who challenged her… She killed them all…” Thunderhead whimpered pitifully. “All SkyWings are victims of her tyranny...”

“Then it really means you need outside assistance,” Deluge responded, calmly this time. “I’m not feeling any pleasure in doing it. I’m doing it, because it is necessary, for the greater good. So the future might be brighter for my and your kin.”

Prince sighed with sadness, and looked down at the SeaWings doing bloody work on his dragons below.

Snowflare started snoring on Deluge’s shoulder.

“You didn’t let him sleep or something?” SeaWing princess asked.

“A lot of dragons can’t sleep the night before their first battle,” Hearth responded, and laughed grimly. “He and his sister spent the entire night crying, didn’t let me sleep too!”

“That wasn’t your first one?” Deluge asked curiously.

“No,” she replied, and raised her left front leg that ended on her wrist. “That was my third battle.”

Deluge flinched, seeing Hearth’s scarred limb. SkyWing just smiled creepily.

“Don’t you want to join us, too?” She asked, baffled how sky dragons are even allowing crippled dragonet to fight. “We can provide a shelter for you.”

“Thank you very much, your majesty, but lately I got in contact with my grandfather. I know where he is hiding, and he agreed to take me in, if they ever release me from my duties,” orange dragoness replied with feigned cheerfulness. “Apparently getting your talon bitten off by SeaWing wasn’t enough. _But you can still hold a spear with one arm, right!?_ ”

Despite her smile, Hearth looked like she was about to cry. Deluge looked at her other front leg... She had deep, festering bite marks on her wrist.

“Never had the guts to finish the job,” Hearth laughed, seeing where Deluge looked, but the tear escaped her eye. “At one point it got a bit stinky, so I hoped that it would just fall off on its own. It’s easier to bear the thought of losing another talon after one is gone already...”

_Talons and tails, she was trying to bite off her other talon… It’s horrible… Dragonets should never be soldiers. If I will ever see Scarlet, I will kill her myself… Even if she surrenders, or the war will be over. For all those dragons… For their suffering… For their stolen dragonethood, replaced by violence and fear…_

“Delta, examine her leg before she leaves,” Deluge ordered firmly, fighting off nausea, looking away from Hearth’s wounds and adjusting the sleeping Snowflare on her front leg. “Disinfect it, alright?”

Her friend nodded, and approached the SkyWing carefully. She turned her attention back to the prince, who was guarded by three SeaWing soldiers.

“Thunderhead, it had to be done,” she tried speaking in a friendly tone. “First step in finally getting rid of your mother’s tyranny is to get her enforcers out of the pictu-”

Dreadful scream interrupted her from behind her back and Snowflare woke up nearly falling off her leg, but she caught him by his tail. He quickly slid back onto Deluge’s arm, embracing it with his tail and legs strongly.

“MY LEG!!!!” a roar of despair thundered across the sky. “SHE BIT OFF MY LEG!!!”

SeaWing commander turned around midair. It was Hearth, writhing and shaking, clutching her stump, while Delta was trying to keep her in one place.

“Calm down!!” he shouted at her, attempting to immobilise her head. “Nobody is trying to hurt you!! And I’m not female! Look at me!”

“YOU WON’T BIT OFF MY OTHER TALONS!!” dragonet wailed through her tears. “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

“Get a hold of yourself!!” Delta was wrestling with dragonet, and descended with her to the ground, to pin her down.

Deluge knew dragons who had this kind of seizures. They were those whose souls got shattered by horrible experiences in their lives… There was no known cure for that, except isolating the victims from events resembling those, that scarred their spirits. Otherwise they were bound to relive the moments that permanently maimed their souls. _Most of the Kingdoms neglected the existence of such invisible wounds, explaining it with cowardice. But I saw once fearless dragons, who were turned into emotional wrecks by exceptionally bloody battles… Loss of the loved one... Or other traumas..._

“Snowflare, dear, can I ask you for a small favour?” She asked a small dragonet, who nodded vigorously, hugging her arm. “Could you try to calm down your clawmate?”

_He is a SkyWing not a SeaWing… She might get a grip on reality again, if she sees him._

“I- I can try,” he said in a little nervous tone, looking down at orange dragoness, who was writhing in spasms and even breathed her fire at Delta, but the black armor protected him from serious harm.

“If you would do this again, I will consider your offer about biting off your limbs, you lunatic!” Deluge’s bodyguard roared, jumping off the Hearth, and reached under his armor, to check on his own underscales. She completely ignored him, and started rolling on the ground, sobbing.

_Poor dragonet._

Snowflare uncoiled himself from Deluge’s leg, and approached his emotionally broken clawmate. The SeaWing princess shadowed him carefully, but kept her distance to not disturb him. He landed near her, and touched her head with his front claw. Hearth immediately froze, widened her eyes, and looked at Snowflare. He slid something into her right talon, and quickly whispered a few words to her. She looked at him, proceeding to carefully touch the tip of her own horribly maimed leg. Orange dragonet flinched, her eyes widened, and she looked at Snowflare fearfully. He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she stood up so fast on her three legs, that she tripped and fell over. Hearth yelped, and crawled to Delta, just to get away from albino dragonet. He sighed with sadness, and flew back to Deluge.

“It is done,” Snowflare said, wrapping himself around her left arm. “But I think that I just lost a friend.”

_What just happened?_

SeaWing princess looked down at Hearth, who extended her right talon to Delta, who started examining it, and cleaning the wounds with alcohol. Orange dragonet was glancing at Snowflare from time to time.

_What did he do to her?_

“What have you-” she started but a SeaWing horn signal interrupted her.

“WINGS ON THE HORIZON!!!” the heavily armoured sea dragon descended from his elevated watch position, alerting others. “HUGE FORCE, NUMBERING IN AT LEAST HUNDRED APPROACHING FROM THE EAST!!!!”


	4. Firestorm

Dragonet opened her eyes. The battle above her ended. She looked around at the environment that surrounded her. SkyWings and IceWings were laying on the cold forest floor, motionlessly, finally achieving unspoken peace after their deaths. She sat up on the dragon that protected her. The SkyWing that saved her life took nearly the entire impact of their fall, as well as the IceWing frostbreath. His body… It was horribly broken.

“May you be reborn as the SkyWing, brother,” she prayed for the deceased soldier.

She jumped from him to the ground, but fell over, as she tried to support herself on her wounded leg. Firestorm yelped with pain, clutching her forearm. The spearhead was still in here, blocking the further bleeding. She tried to assert the damage, by checking if she could move her fingers, which ended in even more torment, but her talon responded weakly.

_It… ARGH!!! I can still move my leg… But It would be better if I won't use it for walking right now…_

She carefully stood up on her three unharmed legs, trying to keep the injured limb still.

_So far, so good… Now I need to find a place to hide, just in case IceWings won. Just keep calm, and you will be alright. Snowflare is fine, too. He has to be…_

She looked around, and noticed a fallen hollow tree trunk, big enough for her to fit in. The red dragonet started carefully limping towards it, and then suddenly, she heard a noise, and saw a white shape, running straight at her. She froze in place, gasping in surprise, as the white dragonet crashed into the Firestorm, knocking her from her feet.

“S-snowflare?” SkyWing asked from the ground.

It was not her brother. It was IceWing dragonet, who widened his eyes, and breathed his ice towards her. Firestorm screamed, trying to desperately take off, but he got her. She fell back to the ground and felt a horrible, freezing pain in her left hind leg.

_Run. Run. He is going to kill me!_

Red dragonet tried to crawl away, whimpering from pain, as fast as possible, but with only two functioning legs it wasn’t fast enough. She couldn’t take off either, as she just wasn’t able to reach enough speed. The horrifying realisation hit her.

_I’m too slow. I’m dead. There’s no sense in trying to escape._

Firestorm rolled over to her back, and supported herself on a nearby tree trunk. She looked down on her body. Her toes were frozen together, but not shattered yet. Firestorm tried moving them, but to no avail. It only ended in even more pain. SkyWing called over to the IceWing, who froze in place, looking at her with an open mouth.

“P-please!!” she shouted, with her voice breaking down from fear and tears. “Don’t kill me!”

_I- I will miss you, Snowflare..._

The ice dragonet approached, with a terrified expression oh his face.

“What have I done?” he choked out, looking at the wounded Firestorm, mostly at her frozen hind leg. “No. No. No! I don’t want to kill dragons! It’s… Horrible!”

IceWing approached sobbing Firestorm, looking at her frostbite with guilt.

“Three moons, I’m sorry!!” he exclaimed in a cracking voice. “You- you startled me, and I panicked! I didn’t mean to!!”

_Wait, what?_

“Y- you, don’t want to kill me?” red dragonet asked in surprise and looked at the IceWing’s silver armour. “B-but you’re a soldier.”

“I don’t care, I won’t kill anyone! Glacier might choke on her stupid rankings and circles!! I’M NOT THIS KIND OF DRAGON!!!” he shouted and looked at Firestorm. “I- I can make this right, let me help you.”

“ _I can’t trust him. He is an IceWing,_ ” red dragonet thought automatically, reminding herself what her combat instructors were saying, but a strong stab of pain knocked the stupid statement out of her head. “ _He wants to help you, you stupid lizard!_ ”

“You can?” young SkyWing whimpered quietly in pain. “Please do...”

White dragonet nodded, and proceeded to tear off a large part of white cloth from his armor. He also uncorked a flexible leather canteen that he pulled from his belt, using his teeth. IceWing spat inside, and closed it. Firestorm heard the bubbling noise, something similar to the boiling water. She looked at the IceWing, who appeared to be slightly older than her. He was at least seven years old. He had pretty, white scales with a gentle blue tint to them. He was rather averagely built, and a bit smaller than the most IceWing dragonets of his age. Above his long snout, two beautiful eyes that looked like sapphires were widened from stress.

_If he hadn’t just frozen my leg, and there wasn’t that big bad war, I’d say he is rather cute… He is really worried about me..._

“This will hurt… A lot. Be brave...” IceWing asked and carefully grabbed SkyWing’s frozen hind leg with his talon, which caused her to squawk in pain. “What is your name?”

“I’m Firestorm,” she replied, wincing from pain. “And you?”

“Solstice, once in the Second Circle, now possibly not even in rankings… But that’s not important anymore,” he said, with visible sadness. “Brace yourself, poor SkyWing.”

Firestorm nodded and closed her eyes. Solstice stuffed her mouth with the white cloth, and then she felt the cold touch of IceWing’s talons, as he pinned down her leg to the ground. Then the hot leather touched her frozen scales, and she suffered searing pain worse than anything in her entire life. She tried screaming and writhing, but the cloth muffled her, and IceWing held her firmly in place.

Firestorm felt like it took long hours, before Solstice, with shaking talons, put away the leather canteen. At this point the red dragonet’s eyes hurt from tears, but in the end pain nearly ceased to exist.

“I’ll just put the healing salve on your leg, and that’s all I can do,” IceWing said wobbly. “Then I will bandage it, and hopefully cutting it off won’t be necessary...”

Firestorm’s heart sank.

“W-what!?!?” Firestorm cried out in shock, spitting out the cloth. “N-no!! I barely feel any pain now!! It will get only better!”

“Unfortunately it’s debatable. It might take a while before the true damage from such severe frostbite will show. Our frostbreath literally destroys flesh,” Solstice said quietly, applying the foul-smelling substance on the affected scales, which were visibly paler than the healthy ones. “Such monstrous creatures, we IceWings are. I’m so sorry again, poor dragon. At least you have a bit higher chances, because you were treated immediately. I wish I could say something more comforting, but it's not possible without lying.”

“I- I can still lose my entire leg?” she mumbled hollowly. Her chin started shuddering frantically.

“That’s the worst case scenario,” IceWing responded, wrapping another ripped part of his cloth on Firestorm’s leg. “But don’t worry, that shouldn’t happen unless you would injure it or something. Just be very careful about it, and you should be fine. And when necrosis will eventually show up, go to the doctor immediately.”

“W-when…!? N-not if!?” she cried out. Her vision got blurred by tears again. Firestorm sat up and glanced at her own bandaged limb. IceWing gave her a sympathetic look, gently nudging her tail with his. He walked closer to her and noticed the state of her front leg.

“Is that a spear? Poor dragon,” Solstice said and took Firestorm’s damaged forearm to carefully inspect it. “I can’t get it out, this wound is too deep. Unfortunately I don’t have anything to ease your pain either… I… I used it somewhere else...”

Despite his cold scales, the red dragonet felt somewhat… Warmer on her heart when he touched her with care. She felt a weird urge to lean her head against his neck. And she did it. IceWing didn’t recede.

“I- I’m grateful, that you haven’t killed me, but… Why have you helped me?” she asked him, as he carefully extended his ice blue wing over her own folded wings. “I- I mean everyone was always talking that IceWings can’t feel compassion… Or mercy...”

“Unfortunately that’s not far from the truth for most of my kin, Firestorm,” he whispered with sadness. “Before this battle… I- I thought that I can kill without much thought as well… It wasn’t anything I expected… There was no glory here, no honor. Just blood, dirt, screams and death. When I stabbed that one SkyWing, he looked at me with such shock, fear… I will never forget his horrified golden eyes, his last glance at the world… How he called for his mother, before he fell to the ground, to never fly again...”

He paused and gulped loudly.

“When I saw you, and what I did to you… You are so young… I… Just couldn’t watch you scream in pain, because of me! I didn’t want to be a cause of another dragon’s death!!” he said, swallowing his own tears. “I don’t want to kill dragons! I DON’T!!!”

_He really needs a hug._

Firestorm reached out with her healthy talon and embraced him. She felt his cold scales, even shuddered a bit, but endured the chill.

“Joining the army to advance my rank… It was the biggest mistake in my life...” he whispered to her. “My mother wasn’t a coward. Now I understand her… After all those horrible things me and my father told her, that led to her banishment... After I ignored her letters… I hope she will forgive me...”

_IceWing dragonets are joining the army willingly!? Woah…_

“I’m sure she will,” Firestorm said, trying to sound reassuring. “She is your mother after all.”

_That's what mothers do… At least that’s what they told me… Loving their dragonets, always. I hope my mother is somewhere in the world, trying to find me and Snowflare..._

She withdrawn her talon, not being able to withstand the coldness anymore. To her surprise it was covered in dark blue liquid. IceWing blood.

“Solstice! You’re bleeding!” she cried out, surprised.

“I know. During the battle, they...” he paused, catching breath, and exhaling loudly. “Hurt my wing really badly.”

Firestorm looked over his shoulder. She felt his right wing still touching her back, but the left one… It was just not there. Not entirely at least. Broken bone was still sticking out of the remains of his wing forearm. Ripped membrane was hanging sadly from the remnant of his left wing, hastily covered by the bandages. SkyWing felt sick. She quickly looked away.

_I think I’m going to throw up._

“You need a doctor. We need to get out of here,” Firestorm said quietly, trying to stand up. However it was just not possible with only two healthy legs. She nearly fell over, but Solstice caught her. “I can’t walk...”

“You can lean against me, and we should be able to walk,” he responded to her. “But I agree, we need to move. Those metal dragons might still be somewhere close.”

“Metal dragons?” red dragonet asked, surprised. “What do you mean? There were only IceWings and SkyWings fighting in this battle!”

“Maybe at the beginning. But later, when we were winning… After a rather horrible decision made by our commander...” IceWing responded, stretching his wing and stump. “We were charged by some strange dragons. Entirely covered by metal armour. Only blue and green wings were visible. They appeared out of nowhere, and before we knew it, after your SkyWings started withdrawing, we were hit by such a powerful charge, that we never expected to face. Bones breaking, w… wings getting sliced off… They started killing everyone, while being seemingly invulnerable to any harm themselves… One of them j- just looked at me, and… before I realised that his halberd was going for me, I started falling to the ground, without my wing... Fortunately trees absorbed some of the impact, b- but I won’t fly ever again…”

_Poor dragon… I can’t imagine how I would’ve handled loss of the wing… Never take off into the skies again… Even thinking about it is horrifying._

“Your wound is really severe. We need to get to the closest city as soon as possible,” Firestorm said. “I could really use a doctor as well. Can you help me get up?”

“Of course. You can even get on my back if you don’t mind… The state of my wing.” Solstice said with sadness and lied down on the ground. “It will be much better for you, as we won’t risk injuring your legs any further.”

“But what about your wing?” SkyWing asked. “We don’t want to injure it any further too!”

“It’s gone already, so that doesn’t matter anyway,” IceWing mumbled sadly. “Come, you can climb on my back now.”

Red dragonet scaled IceWing’s back, trying not to touch or look at his wings. It was unbearably cold up there, especially where the blue blood was present.

_I- I hope I will get used to it after some time…_

“Y-you are very cool,” Firestorm said through her gritted teeth.

“And you are very hot, as your name implies,” he responded, trying to smile. “I hope you are comfortable up there.”

“As one can be, laying on the ice...” SkyWing said, shivering from cold, but it was becoming a little more manageable. Then she looked at his left wing. “Eww… Does this hurt?”

“Now it doesn’t...” he sighed, folding his wings. “But when the painkillers will run out… I’m afraid I could pass out from pain.”

_Three moons, we need to get to the city as soon as possible… Without him I will just starve to death. Highvalley is close, and even has a hospital… Jusy two hours of SkyWing flight away…_

“East of here, there’s a town with a hospital, they can help us,” she whispered to IceWing’s ear. “I think I can lead you there.”

“SkyWing town?” he asked and after Firestorm nodded, he added. “We’re both dead if we won’t get any medical assistance… I might get imprisoned, but it’s still better than death, I hope… Just point me in the right direction then.”

Firestorm looked at the sun and determined where the east was. She extended her healthy talon and whispered to IceWing’s ear.

“This way. It’s two hours of flight from there.” she whispered to his ear and the realisation hit her. “But on foot… It may take a day or two... We won’t reach it. Maybe some survivors are close by somewhere…”

“Those metal monsters might still lurk there... ” he mumbled fearfully.

“But based on what you said, those dragons might be the SeaWings,” Firestorm said. “They never kill their prisoners. Instead they always go for the exchange or ransom option… Truly, they are our only hope.”

“No. I saw how they slaughtered dragons I knew. They cut off my wing,” Solstice turned his head to look into Firestorm’s eyes. “We are not going there.”

“Solstice. I know this may be hard for you...” Firestorm reached out with her talon to embrace IceWing’s head. “But we won’t reach the city… We just simply don’t have that much time, before...”

“I’m the one with legs,” he snarled angrily, interrupting her. “And I’m not coming back to those monsters, so don’t try to convince me into doing that, you cripple.”

_Cripple… Is that who I am to him? Did he just say that my legs won’t work anytime in the future?_

Firestorm opened her mouth, shocked how Solstice reacted. She felt tears running down her cheeks. IceWing looked down, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, Firestorm. I didn’t mean to say that,” he said and brushed the red dragonet’s neck gently with his snout. “I- I’m just… so afraid of them...”

“It’s alright… I was just concerned about you,” she said quietly, avoiding eye contact. “You are still losing blood. I know that you won’t be able to make the two day journey, especially with a _cripple_ on your back. But I guess you can leave me here, I won’t mind...”

“Don’t say such things!” he exclaimed, widening his large blue eyes. “If- If I would leave you… You can’t hunt… You could die from hunger! I can’t allow you to die, especially after what I did to you.”

“If you would be knocked out of action by pain, we are both starving to death,” Firestorm said and pointed at the nearby pile of SkyWing and IceWing corpses. “Unless you find those dragons tasty… But I will be dead anyway.”

“Three moons, okay!” Solstice hissed at the dragonet, who flinched on his back. “I get your point. I guess we can approach them carefully. I’m doing this only for you.”

IceWing started crouching towards the direction where he came from originally. They passed the dragon corpses of various sizes, from dragonets to adults, all of them bloodied, broken, motionless. Some dragons were hanging from the trees like some grisly decorations, dripping blue or red blood to the ground below. Firestorm noticed one IceWing laying on the tree that was… going right through his stomach. Worst of all, he was still breathing with visible pain, clutching the trunk of the tree that was impaling him, blue from his blood.

“Solstice, look!” red dragonet whispered into IceWings ear, pointing at the suffering dragon. “He is still alive!”

Young IceWing stopped and looked at a dragon of his kind. Wounded dragon noticed them, coughed up a lot of blue liquid and groaned in a hoarse tone.

“H-help me...”

“There’s nothing we can do for him,” Solstice mumbled half consciously, looking at the bloodied IceWing. “He is dead already.”

Despite the distance he heard them, reaching in their direction with his talon. He desperately tried to get up, but that ended in a gurgling yelp of pain.

“No… Please...”

Solstice gulped loudly and turned around to walk away, avoiding the eye contact with the IceWing.

“Solstice, w-we can’t leave him like that!” Firestorm shouted. “We have to get him out of that tree!”

“Look at him! This tree possibly caused so much internal damage that he will die very soon, regardless whether we help him or not,” he responded with a hollow look in his eyes. The adult IceWing sobbed from pain and tried to free himself again. Even more blood poured onto the ground. He was still desperately clinging to his life. “Also, I think the painkillers will soon run out. We can’t afford to waste our time on any pointless efforts.”

“No… No… I don’t want… to die...” IceWing grunted with visible difficulty. He spat out even more blue substance.

“Solstice, please!” Firestorm felt that her vision was getting blurry again. “It’s just wrong!! We have to help him!!”

White dragonet closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling air slowly. SkyWing could tell that he was close to tears as well.

_It’s very hard for him too… That IceWing may be dying, but saying that he will be dead straight away is just… Cruel…_

“Sorry. We can’t,” he said looking straight into red dragonet’s eyes. His expression showed unbearable sadness. “I feel the pain returning to my wing...”

_Even if what he’s doing is sensible, it’s just… heartless…_

IceWing attempted to free himself one more time. He nearly raised his body enough that the end of the trunk was visible. Solstice, seeing this, rushed forward to help his kin on the last push. Firestorm nearly fell from his back when he stood up on his hind legs to support the IceWing. She grasped his body stronger.

_He decided to do the right thing..._

But then a disaster happened. Adult IceWing slipped on his own blood, losing his balance. He fell on the end of the trunk that was covered in splinters. He roared in pain and fear, as he was impaled once more. The splinters emerged from his back. Solstice jumped backwards in shock, seeing what happened. Adult IceWing went completely limp, whimpered quietly, only his tail spasmed a few times. Then his body went completely still. Both dragonets froze in horror when the realisation hit them. He was dead. Firestorm screamed in despair. She started crying and covered her eyes with her wings.

_NO!! This can’t be happening!!! No, no, no, NO!!! WE MURDERED HIM!!!_

“Firestorm, calm down, there was nothing we could do to prevent this,” Solstice tried to move her wing away with his own, to look at her.

SkyWing looked up to him, sobbing, as he gently touched her chin with his wing claw. He was taking deep, slow breaths attempting to calm himself down.

“Maybe it’s better for him,” he whispered to her, trying to convince her, himself or both. “Without that, he would suffer for long hours, before...”

Red dragonet couldn’t handle this any longer. She broke into tears and screamed in sorrow, the entire forest echoed with her roar.

“SHUT UP OR I WILL FREEZE YOUR SNOUT OFF!!!” He screamed in a much higher, panicked tone.

She curled up her tail into a ball on his back, desperately trying to keep quiet. She squawked in horror, looking at him fearfully. An awkward silence fell upon them. Suddenly a red dragonet heard a horn signal from a distance, thundering in the valley they were in.

_Oh no… What have I done…_

Solstice gasped in shock, and looked at Firestorm on his back.

“S-sorry,” She mumbled, with tears in her green eyes.

“Three moons, we wanted to approach them carefully,” IceWing said slowly. ”To check whether it is safe to come there. And now look what you’ve done...”

“It’s certainly much safer than wandering through the battlefield on your own, dear dragonets,” A deep voice said from the bush. Firestorm jumped on Solstice’s back.

A metal clanked, and all of the sudden, three dragons covered in black armour, wielding heavy spears surrounded them. Solstice held his breath from shock.

“You have nothing to fear as long as you obey our commands, young dragons,” Heavily armored SeaWing took off her helmet. “My name is Bloodfin of the Heralds of the Tide. You will come with us.”


	5. Deluge

Deluge cursed angrily, and looked at the situation below. Several SkyWings were laying on the ground, bleeding from their throats, others were lying unconscious, after the process of wing shredding. Dragonets were standing in separate groups, some of them resting on the grass, being wounded too badly during the battle to walk. On the more secluded area of the clearing numerous sky dragons were lying motionlessly, in rows, covered by bloodied blankets. Two of her soldiers carefully placed another dragon near the others. They were the ones who died from their wounds. Deluge's heart sank, when she noticed that nearly half of the shapes under the rags were too small to be adult dragons...

_Dead dragonets… Their lives cut dramatically short by the war, that they should’ve never experienced. This conflict… It just crossed the boundary it should never even reach…_

“Tempest! Shore!” she called over to her lieutenants, and they flew up to her bowing slightly. “Gather your troops, we have to move out fast.”

They returned to their troops, sounding their horns to rally them. Deluge looked once more at the deceased dragonets. She shed a tear over their fate.

_Such young, wasted lives… Dragged into the war forcefully, that they were too young to understand… Just to die for the SandWing princess they’ve never met or even possibly knew about… So much wasted artisans, healers, scholars… It- It could’ve even been Snowflare..._

“M-mom? You are crying,” Albino dragonet, seated on her front leg asked. “Are you alright?”

“It’s...” she whispered to him, before hugging him stronger. “Nothing. It's nothing.”

_Or soon, it could be… Sapphire…_

Deluge closed her eyes. Suddenly the image of Sapphire in the pool of blood, writhing in deathly spasms, calling for her desperately, haunted her.

_Keep it together. You are a SeaWing commander. You can’t present yourself like that in front of your soldiers. Lead them to end this war, so no more tragedies like that could happen. Focus on the living, not on the dead. Protect those, who can still be saved._

She opened her eyes and looked at SkyWing survivors.

_Adults could certainly come back to their families now, being useless in the military… Dragonets however… They are at risk of being forced into their horrible military units again! They were without families, so they had nobody to come back to… Except themselves. I… I can’t allow them to return to their tormentors! I have to evacuate them somehow…_

“Tempest!” she called over to her trusted lieutenant, and she immediately turned back to her, stopping herself from shouting orders to her troops. “We need to get those dragonets off the picture. We need to save them from their own kin. I need you to escort them safely to the nearby mountain range. Find them a secluded cave or something, so the SkyWings won’t find them.”

“Deluge, are you sure?” Tempest asked her, more as a friend, less as a subject. “There are wounded ones who would have to be carried, slowing everyone. We don’t have enough time before...”

“Then I will provide that time with Shore,” Deluge interrupted firmly, kissing Snowflare on his forehead, who murmured, brushing his snout against her cheek.

“They still outnumber our groups three to one...” SeaWing lieutenant spoke, looking straight into her commander’s eyes, then smiled, and struck her own dark metal chestplate with her clenched fist, which caused it to rattle. “But wait, we have your fancy armours now! Ha! Make sure to leave some for my dragons as well! We will come back as soon as possible when the SkyWings will be committed into combat!”

“Two devastating charges in one day sounds like a wonderful plan! But remember, first escort the dragonets, and then you can kill the SkyWings,” Deluge nodded, and returned the smirk. “But I guess it won’t take long... With your size I believe you could carry at least half of those dragonets on your own, you fat lizard!”

Tempest laughed loudly, as she nearly let go of her huge golden trident.

“Will keep that in mind, little princess,” SeaWing lieutenant grinned, sweeping through the air with her long, muscular tail. “Judging by the distance from the mountains we should be back in thirty minutes from our departure.”

“Excellent. After your charge everyone will withdraw into the river to cut our possible casualties,” Deluge said, flaring her wings up with satisfaction. “While maximising enemies’.”

“I will go now to load dragonets on my back then,” Tempest said, smiling and dove down to her soldiers, commanding them to prepare the dragonets for escape.

The SeaWing commander ordered her own unit to form up. Twenty six dragons formed a line in front of her, two of them still holding a prince Thunderhead. Delta was helping orange SkyWing in the meantime, but that still hasn't explained where three of her dragons went. Shore and his unit approached them swiftly from the right side, not losing their organised formation.

“Where is Bloodfin, Carp and Albacore?” she asked her soldiers.

“They went to investigate the screams that were heard from the battlefield, Ma’am” one of her soldiers, a blue male SeaWing named Halibut responded, stepping out of the row. “I tried to stop them, but they wanted to check it out regardless...”

“Son of a starfish!” SeaWing commander swore. Tempest giggled mildly from the distance. Deluge took perfectly round, green stone from the sack hanging on her belt. She gave it to the SeaWing who spoke earlier. “Halibut, Wave and Spearfish, you will escort the SkyWing prince to our hideout, but wait for Snowflare and possibly Hearth, they will join you shortly. Let them touch the stone at the same time, to allow them to breathe underwater.”

Her three chosen soldiers bowed slightly and flew with the prince towards the river. Deluge looked around and noticed Delta who soared up to her with the orange dragonet. He was holding her by her arm.

“Delta, is she ready for her lone journey?” she asked her friend.

“No, the infection spread too much for me to help her,” He responded, pointing at dragonet’s bandaged wrists. “She needs to see our professional healers or she will lose her right talon as well.”

“Hearth, join the SeaWings who just flew towards the river,” she commanded the orange dragoness, who was busy watching albino dragonet, wrapped around her arm. “They will escort you to our healers. Tell them that I sent you.”

Hearth nodded, wriggled herself from Delta’s grasp, and flew away to the river.

“Shore, my dragons, form up at altitude higher by three hundred meters than approaching force, I will join you shortly,” Deluge gestured, and over fifty heavily armored dragons started ascending with a loud sound of clanking metal, accompanying the wing flaps that echoed through the forest, creating wind that made the trees tremble.

White dragonet in her embrace shuddered slightly.

“M-mommy, don’t leave me for the battle, please,” he whispered, looking at her with his red, frightened eyes. “I’m scared that something might happen to you… I don’t want to lose you like I lost m-my sister!!”

“You sound like my husband, Silentskies,” she smiled, touching his snout with hers.“I’m a seasoned warrior, trust me, sweetheart. I’ve survived much worse odds than this. Go to the Hearth and my dragons, they will lead you to our secret underground base. When I come back I can prepare a special tent, just for you!”

“B-but what about… my sister’s...” his voice cracked and several tears escaped his tormented eyes.

“I’m sorry, we can’t do this now,” Deluge said quietly. “But maybe after the battle I will send a dragon for her...”

“If SkyWings will find her on such contested territory as this, they will burn her body, or bury her in a mass grave,” Snowflare sobbed, nearly losing his grip on her arm. “She will have no chance to be reborn as SkyWing, without our proper rituals… I will never meet her again...”

_Poor dragonet… He really believes that there’s still a chance that he will meet her after her death… Trust me, little one, I know the pain of losing beloved sibling…_

A horrible memory of Deluge’s own young sister Droplet, who died just minutes after Coral’s challenge to their mother, appeared in her mind. How she threw herself into the arena in despair, challenging Coral, when their mother was still bleeding to death after not even fighting back against one of the daughters she dearly loved...

_I failed to stop her… If I was able to do so, Droplet would be still alive… She was just a little dragonet who loved her mother so much… But once the challenge has been invoked, only one may emerge alive, according to the ancient traditions of the Sea Kingdom… No matter the age… Coral was devastated after her rage passed and she realised that her mother and sister are dead because of her. Good thing that Gill managed to cure her depression, she’s the queen now after all… But is she really that good of a monarch?_

_No. Now it’s not the time for this kind of thoughts._

“I lost my sister too, Snowflare,” she said to him, looking down in sadness. “I know how painful it can really be. But there comes a time, sooner or later, when the dragon needs to move on, for his or her own good. I can help you start your new life, with me far away from horrors of war. You just need to trust me and join my dragons at the river, and don’t worry about your sister… She will always be with you, in your heart.”

Deluge gently touched dragonet’s chest. Snowflare hugged her stronger, raising his face streaked with tears, to look at her.

“I love you, mommy,” he whispered, leaning his head against her neck. “Stay safe...”

“I will, Snowflare,” Deluge gently moved her talon across his back. “Now go, my soldiers are waiting for you.”

White dragonet wriggled himself from her embrace and dove towards the trees that concealed a river behind them. The SeaWing princess trailed him with her eyes warily until he safely disappeared in the sea of green. She soared upwards, swiftly ascending in the direction of two organised sea dragon formations.

_Now it’s the time to lead my army… Still wondering where those three went… Bloodfin was always rather reasonable and wouldn’t abandon her post, so it had to be important in some way… Hope she will return safely, Delta would be devastated if something happened to her…_

She glided towards Lieutenant Shore, who was in the middle of his speech to their soldiers.

_Ah, Shore… He always had his way with speeches, which can kindle the flame in even the bleakest hearts._

“...who would we be, if we decided to do nothing, when the defenseless suffer!?” he shouted to SeaWings, sweeping through the air with his armoured tail.

“Cowards!” a choir of loud voices answered him.

“And you’re the bravest dragons the Pyrrhia has ever known!!” Shore roared at them, and then he shook his halberd. “Unless you wish to prove me otherwise!?”

“NOO!!!!” the dragons cried out.

“Then follow me and Deluge!!! For glory!!!” He screamed, and the SeaWings roared, ready to fight. Then he noticed the presence of Deluge, behind him. “What are your orders, your majesty?”

“Thank you for the speech, Shore. Usual tactics, just as we trained for the last two years. We approach, split on the flanks and kite them away.” The SeaWing princess said. “Due to the heavy weight of our armors we should be able to outrun the SkyWings, but only if we are descending. We have a river, to which we can disengage and engage again from an unexpected angle, when the situation would be too harsh, so make sure to stay in it’s vicinity at all times. Keep that in mind and we should be able to outmaneuver the fastest flyers in all of Pyrrhia!”

Soldiers cheered and raised their weapons chanting her name.

_No more running away, as soon as the sky dragon’s wings appear on the horizon. No more dread when SkyWings have a similar amount of soldiers as we… No more fear of their fire. This is an important moment to all SeaWings. First time we are able to stand up to a fair fight._

She turned back to the incoming SkyWings. Delta glided to her right side, and the rest of the dragons from her unit soon followed. Shore gestured, and soon was joined by his own organised group. The sky dragons were still at least three kilometers away from them. Their numbers however… They were certainly above the first estimations.

_Doesn’t matter. If we are invulnerable to their greatest strengths, they are no bigger threat than the angry, overgrown winged skinks!_

Everyone was ready in position. Deluge on the left flank, Shore on the right.

_Time to strike._

SeaWing princess raised horn, previously hanging on her neck, to her lips. She blew into it with all the power of her lungs. Sea dragons started gaining speed, as they were approaching the overwhelming SkyWing force.

_Two kilometers…_

_One kilometer…_

At this distance the first SkyWing banners started being recognisable.

_33rd of the Diamond River. 9th of the Stone Wing Peninsula. Battle hardened warriors. Things are getting interesting… Wait, three moons is that…?_

Deluge squinted her eyes. The red-gold banners in the middle, larger than others, richly decorated, with fire breathing dragons on the sides. Her heart started burning with pure hatred.

_Scarlet’s own royal guard… This day couldn’t get more... Thrilling..._


	6. Deluge

The SeaWing princess steered herself towards the royal banners, accelerating. Her unit followed her swiftly. Cold wind howled in Deluge’s ears as she started descending upon the enemy army. Rain was dripping on the sea dragon’s metal plates and wings. Deluge was scanning the enemy ranks, searching for the SkyWing queen. In the middle of the sky dragon’s elite squadron she spotted averagely built red dragoness, armoured with golden chainmail.

_There she is! Hiding behind at least thirty dragons… How cowardly! Unfortunately that eliminates the possibility of killing her in head-on charge. Too risky._

“Ready the javelins!” she shouted. Distance between her dragons and the enemy formation quickly was getting smaller and smaller. Heralds of the Tide roared in response, drawing the fletched javelins from the quivers strapped on their armoured backs. Deluge readied her own throwing weapon, examining the sharp spearhead, fitted with hooks, designed to cause maximum amount of pain, as well as stay in the poor victim’s flesh, effectively eliminating one’s ability to fight.

_200 meters… Time to turn, if we don’t want to engage them in unfavourable melee yet. 150 meters…_

SeaWing princess sounded her horn, producing three short sounds, ordering her unit to dive below the altitude of the SkyWings and form a perpendicular line to their angle of approach, allowing all of her soldiers to utilise their weapons, while not being in the line of fire themselves. Her dragons roared in response, maneuvering in an organised way, following her order. She quickly glanced to her right and noticed that Shore’s soldiers were doing the same.

_Perfect. Now we have reached similar speed to the SkyWings. May the three moons guide their spirits to the light…_

“Aim at fancy dragons in the middle! 120 meters!” Deluge shouted as the SeaWings readied their weapons, pulling them back in their talons to create additional force before throwing, targeting Scarlet’s formation. “Let fly!”

Nothing could prepare the SkyWings for what was coming. Over fifty javelins began their flight through the distance of over 100 meters, hissing from their velocity. For nearly four seconds nothing happened.

_Wait, did everyone miss?_

But then… Roars of pain, terror, thundered across the valley like lightning in the rainy weather… Over a dozen of dragons started falling to the ground and at least twenty of them were writhing in pain, midair, trying to frantically remove the cruel weapons that dug deep into their bodies. Deluge knew that those wounds would probably never heal, just as Silentskies said. A lot of them will still die from them afterwards, no matter what. Despite being a seasoned warrior, she still couldn’t get used to that harsh reality of warfare… It was just too disturbing...

_This is war. Those weapons might just be able to end it. Prolonged war of attrition would take much more innocent lives than one could imagine. Besides they would’ve done the same or worse to me or my dragons. I should stop feeling bad for them. Despite the fact I can’t._

Some Sky dragons stopped in their advance, trying to save their falling brothers and sisters, others were too shocked to comprehend what happened. They lost their tidy formation, despite Scarlet’s attempts to rally them. Her commander, possibly a princess, judging by their similar look, started screaming to retreat. Other SkyWing squadrons stopped, looking confused.

_An elite unit, broken, from the single strike of the weapon they’ve never experienced._

Deluge sounded her horn, ordering her army to stop. The sky princess continued her cries to withdraw until her mother flew up to her. Scarlet caught her throat in her talons, and in a single motion, she twisted her daughter’s head to an unnatural angle, as her body went completely limp. Both SkyWings and SeaWings watched this senseless act of brutality in horror, while Scarlet let go of the corpse, and shouted at her horrified soldiers.

_She just… She snapped her own daughter’s neck, like it was nothing…_

Sky dragons reassembled their formation swiftly, possibly under a threat of similar fate. Deluge cursed quietly, and ordered her dragons to continue their descent.

“Ready the javelins!” SeaWing princess roared, drawing another javelin from her quiver. The sound of wood scratching against leather told her that her dragons followed her order. SkyWings resumed their approach. Deluge wanted to repeat the attack on the royal guard, but noticed that one wing was flanking her swiftly. She had to slow them down. Shore had similar issues in his own sector. “Aim at the dragons on our 10! 70 meters!”

SeaWings roared in response, turning around to target a red-orange cloud.

“Let fly!” Deluge shouted. Twenty seven javelins with colorful fletchings, began their grim, precise flight to their targets. SkyWings this time, tried dodging them, spreading, diving and ascending. And that maneuver succeeded, mostly. Only two dragons lost their lives instantly, while at least five got incapacitated, screeching from pain.

This SkyWing unit stopped in their advance, just as another wing overtook it, at surprisingly high speed.

_We will get caught if we won’t make our angle of descent steeper._

She signaled her unit to dive in order to accelerate, but despite her dragons’ best efforts enemies were closing the distance.

“Let fly at will!!” Deluge screamed. Her dragons hollered in response, drawing their throwing weapons. Nearly constant stream of javelins began tearing holes in organised SkyWing formation. Despite their losses sky dragons pushed on courageously, loudly screaming to suppress their own fear.

_They are just thirty meters away from us! River is too far, we would have to soon engage them in melee… Three moons, we don’t want that yet…_

The SeaWings were nearly in Skywing’s firebreath range.

_Damn it!_

“Prepare melee weapons!!” Deluge shouted. Her dragons responded and ceased to throw the javelins upon the enemy.

Lightly armored just with breastplates and helmets, sky dragons were completely tunnel visioned on Deluge and her wing. That was their undoing. They failed to notice Shore’s spear formation charging right at their flank, before it was too late. SkyWings were amongst the slimmest and lightest dragon tribes in Pyrrhia. They had no chance of defending themselves against such brutal and unexpected heavy charge. The deafening sounds of pain, slashing, claws scraping across solid metal and bones breaking echoed across the cloudy sky. SkyWings were flung around like puppets from the impact of the SeaWing onslaught, while sea dragons weren’t even slowed down by their light, vulnerable bodies. Numerous sky dragons were soon falling to the ground, some without a sound, others screaming from pain or not being able to glide or otherwise soften their long fall with their broken wings. Remnants of the brave squadron, previously consisting of around fifty soldiers, started routing or diving in an attempt to desperately save at least some of their still falling comrades from certain death. Shore and his dragons weren’t hanging around though, as they had another SkyWing unit on their tails, that they were kiting towards the river.

That brutal maneuver bought Deluge enough time to approach the safe distance to the water. Just fifty meters were between her dragons and the river, enough for them to swiftly withdraw into, if needed.

Deluge looked behind and noticed that another two SkyWing formations were approaching her, besides the heavily armored royal one that was further away.

_We need much more time… Otherwise Tempest would have to use another river and therefore traverse through enemy territory, which will be too risky. Entering this one in the other part would be not practical as well, as this river gets really shallow in several places, leaving them vulnerable. Our retreat tunnel is here, and we need to hold it._

“Resume the javelins!” Deluge ordered her dragons. SkyWings began to employ evasive maneuvers, trying to dodge SeaWing’s lethal weapons, which greatly restricted their casualties. Nevertheless, they bravely pushed on, as the sea dragons were closing their distance to the river. Shore’s group was now present on Deluge’s left thirty meters away, fending off their own attackers. SkyWings were getting closer, swiftly cutting the distance just to twenty meters, littering the forest with their corpses, before Deluge screamed to dive into the river. Black tide of armoured dragons lunged downwards, barely dodging the hot flames that emerged from furious SkyWing throats.

Water closed above Deluge and her dragons, while blaze lit up the river depths. Someone stumbled in SeaWing princess, knocking her into Delta. He looked at his commander, and widened his eyes as he lunged forward, passing her, and caught the unfortunate dragon who crashed into Deluge. Apparently one SkyWing failed to stop herself above water, plunging right into SeaWing claws. She was writhing, kicking, and screaming, letting out bubbles of air, but Delta held her firmly in place. Water was a SeaWing domain. She had no chance of escaping now. Bright red sky dragon was getting weaker and weaker, but still fought on, trying to reach the surface. Two orange talons popped into the water, another SkyWing was trying to save her. Noticing that she desperately tried to lunge upwards, but two other SeaWings already reached out and dragged her even deeper underwater. SkyWing was an adult, but was no more than eleven years old. Her young golden eyes were widening from fear, as she began to realise that she had no chance of survival now.

Deluge felt terribly sorry for her.

_Such a short life ended in darkness, drowning slowly and hopelessly, among the horrifying enemies that show no signs of mercy… Ugly way to go._

_But she doesn’t have to die here. She’s just one poor soldier in this great war, her survival won’t make a big difference in the outcome of it._

SeaWing princess flared up her huge wings, illuminating the struggling dragons, which turned their attention to her.

“ _Let her go. She’s no threat_ ,” Deluge’s bioluminescent stripes formed the simplified message, only using her wings and snout. During the training of her soldiers SeaWing scholars needed to invent a special form of Aquatic that could be spoken, with just head and wing scales, as the rest of the her soldier's bodies were covered by the plate armour most of the time.

“ _Really?_ ” Delta’s snout flashed back in question, and he pointed at SkyWings breastplate. “ _Soldier._ ”

“ _Stun and surface her,_ ” the SeaWing princess responded in Aquatic, jabbing her tail towards the faint sunlight.

Possibly stunning her wasn’t necessary at this point, as SkyWing’s body went completely still, with last bubbles of air escaping her mouth, but Delta punched her vigorously in her snout, causing small amount of blood to erupt from her nose, and swam with her towards the orange talons, still clawing through the water.

As soon as the SkyWing on the surface touched the unconscious dragon’s front leg, he held onto it, dragging her out of the water instantly. Delta propelled himself back to Deluge, and flashed his snout.

“ _Happy?_ ” he asked in Aquatic.

SeaWing princess nodded, smiling slightly. She wanted to say something to him, but the screams from above the water interrupted her.

“ _Let’s check it out,_ ” Deluge flashed stripes on her wings. “ _Approach the surface carefully._ ”

As the SeaWings propelled themselves towards the sunlight, the shouting became more and more clear.

“...Cowards!! Hiding in the water, after not even fighting honourably!” a furious feminime voice shouted. “We have you cornered, the river gets shallow nearby on both sides, you won’t escape!”

_Scarlet. She has no idea..._

She looked down, and with her night vision she saw Snowflare, Hearth and prince Thunderhead, near the underwater tunnel entrance, roughly twenty meters deeper, guarded by her SeaWing soldiers. They slid into the hole, disappearing into the darkness. Snowflare hung around a bit longer, squinting his eyes, trying to look at the SeaWings above. Discouraged by his fruitless efforts, he disappeared into the tunnel as well.

_Alright, Snowflare and the rest are safe, but we still need to somehow turn the SkyWing attention away from the Tempest’s unit, before they approach._

To Delta’s surprise she stuck her head out of the water. Nearly hundred SkyWings were circling above the water, while at least two groups were visible in the distance, at both ends of the river, aiming at the shallow waters. Scarlet was hovering in the middle of closer SkyWing formation, guarded by her elite soldiers. Delta and several other dragon heads emerged from the water.

“Cowards… Says the dragon who hid behind at least two squadrons of soldiers!” Deluge shouted back at Scarlet, who turned her head towards a SeaWing. “Truly the greatest and bravest queen in Pyrrhia’s history!”

“Oh, but it appears that someone is hiding in their water now, while mouthing at us,” SkyWing queen hissed at her. “That’s rather boring if you ask me. Quit whining and come out to fight us.”

“We could easily take out at least half of your dragons right now, so better keep your distance,” Deluge snarled angrily. To her satisfaction a huge number of SkyWings continued to spiral around her position, but slightly further. Scarlet herself soared higher as well. “Hmph, scared like hatchling!”

“I’m not afraid of you. Come out of your water, so we can settle this.” SkyWing queen hissed angrily. “Your insults are really boring!!”

“Are you proposing a duel, scared little lizard?” Deluge laughed. “Or something like a challenge? I’m a SeaWing princess, you know… And I have your son, so theoretically we can make this work.”

Scarlet exhaled a smoke plume from her snout angrily.

“I don’t care about my worthless son, who got caught by some annoying SeaWing, but you are really making me want to tear you apart regardless… This could be rather thrilling...” SkyWing queen said in quiet fury. “Come out _dear princess_ , and we can have our duel.”

Deluge looked at Delta, expressing surprise. He shook his head slowly.

_Did she really agree to that? It’s a perfect opportunity to kill her and free SkyWings from her… Maybe they will even pull back from the war after that… All those innocent dragon lives avenged in a single blow..._

Seeing that she was considering going, Delta reached out with his talon, touching her shoulder.

“Deluge, don’t do that,” he whispered to her. “I can’t protect you there… They can charge at you before I’d be able to help...”

“I can’t pass up an opportunity such as this...” The SeaWing princess responded, as she gently touched his talon, looking straight into his eyes. “Think about how much I can change if I would kill her. And remember that we still need to somehow distract them from Tempest’s approach.”

“Please, don’t act as some sort of hero...” Delta said to her in a quiet tone. “She held her position of a queen for at least ten years already, killing all of her sisters. Some of them were professional soldiers like you...”

SeaWing commander ignored him, and looked back at the SkyWing queen.

“If your dragons will start doing something that I don’t like, you and them will die by our javelins,” Deluge snarled and took off from the river, dripping water from her body. “And if you lose, all of your soldiers will have to fly away.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Scarlet growled back, grinning like a predator before tearing the prey apart. “But _when_ _you_ lose, all of your SeaWings will have to surrender.”

“It seems we came to an agreement,” Deluge responded in the most poisonous tone she could muster, hovering above the river. She pointed her halberd towards the SkyWing queen, putting on her helmet. Now that they were both in the air she could notice that she and Scarlet were nearly the same size, so smaller than most dragons. “Shall we begin?”

“Oh, with pleasure,” she hissed, and before Deluge could react, she dove upon her, breathing fire. That would be lethal for any dragon, but not for the SeaWing princess, fully protected by the dark plate armour, with mail and heat insulating golden cloth beneath it. She just felt a hot sensation spreading from the place where the flame had hit her. Seeing that Deluge barely flinched, she disengaged slightly, creating a bit more distance. SkyWing queen squinted angrily studying Seawing’s armour. Deluge laughed loudly under her helmet. Sky dragons looked completely baffled.

Scarlet drew her spear from her back, growling angrily. She attempted to attack her once more, diving straight on her, trying to aim with her spear at Deluge’s head, while trying firebreath again. The SeaWing princess deflected her attack with halberd, and again completely ignored the flames.

“Your fire is quite adorable,” Deluge said boldly. “If you are a one trick dragon, I think you are in very big trouble, to put it lightly.”

Scarlet withdrew again, studying black plates thoroughly. There was no desperation, contempt or fear in her eyes. Her face was only expressing complete focus.

“You wanted a thrilling fight, yet you are making it extremely boring!” SeaWing princess shouted at the queen with hatred. She drew one of the two javelins still remaining in her quiver, quickly aimed and hurled it at the Scarlet. Despite a well aimed throw, SkyWing queen, noticed the incoming projectile and somersaulted in the air, dodging it gracefully. Trying to follow up with a charge, Deluge lunged forward, trying to slash with her weapon. Scarlet dove down under her attack swiftly, barely dodging it, and even managed to counter, stabbing SeaWing princess in her stomach. Despite the impressive force of the attack, the metal plates completely deflected the attack. They passed each other and found themselves on the opposite sides of the fighting space, the SkyWings created.

_Three moons, she is really fast… Now I know how she defeated her challengers. I better stop talking and focus as well… Despite the hatred._

Scarlet glided to one of her soldiers and grabbed the mace that he was holding, and gave him her own spear. He looked confused but didn’t say anything. She turned back at Deluge, smiling slightly this time.

_Blunt weapon… Might be more effective against me, need to be careful now. Maybe I will try something surprising…_

The SeaWing princess soared towards the SkyWing queen, raising her halberd, preparing to do an overhead strike. Scarlet noticed the incoming attack and began to dodge, but at the last moment Deluge turned the weapon in her talons, changing the motion of the attack into an uppercut, aiming at her unprotected underbelly, unprotected by her golden chainmail. Sky dragoness yelped in surprise, but her reflexes were extremely fast. She managed to evade Deluge’s blade, but not the entire attack. Scarlet turned around in order to disengage, but she flailed her tail a bit too close to SeaWing princess’ snout. Seeing this, she lunged forward, closing her jaws on the queen’s orange scales. Scarlet shrieked with pain.

_Exactly on the weak spot._

Deluge tightened her bite as much as she could and shortly after she felt a bitter taste of the Scarlet’s blood, flowing between her teeth. Growling with pure hatred, after drawing first blood she wanted to cause this horrible dragon as much pain as possible. For all those poor dragonets, her own fallen soldiers, her friends… The innocent dragons that suffered the horrors of war. She clawed at Scarlet’s hind legs, as SkyWing tried to wriggle away from her grip, screaming. It wasn’t just about fighting anymore. Deluge wanted to hear her screaming in pain, for all those crimes she commited, directly or not.

_I could finish her off now… Just reach for her throat and slit it. But no, she would die too fast… She doesn’t deserve quick death!_

She caught Scarlet’s thigh with her talon and began working her way down on it, creating deep lacerations. Completely focused on that, she failed to notice that SkyWing queen managed to fight through pain as she turned to her, swinging her mace straight towards SeaWing’s head. Deluge only felt a powerful blow to her snout that made her dizzy. It took her a second or two to notice that she was not holding SkyWing queen anymore, she had tears in her eyes, that her own nose was bleeding, her helmet had fallen off, and how surprisingly bloody Scarlet’s mace was, which was in fact traversing towards her head again. She screamed, soaring upwards in an attempt to dodge. SkyWing queen however somehow still managed to hit her, not in the head, but on her right hind foot, with a horrible crack, dislocating it, despite her armour. Whimpering in pain, the SeaWing princess continued flying up. Desperately thinking, she pointed her halberd downwards, jabbing it at SkyWing’s head, but she was too fast. Almost with annoyance she evaded her attack, and caught Deluge by her damaged hind talon. Piercing pain caused her to scream, and even more tears appeared in her eyes. Scarlet climbed on her body, and soon her head was in front of Deluge’s. She opened her mouth to breathe her fire straight on her face, but the SeaWing princess managed to punch her with her left talon, causing the firebreath to miss her narrowly. Scarlet fell down a bit, still holding on her plate armour, but caught her dagger, tied to her belt. She wrestled it away from the leather scabbard, and tried stabbing it between the plates. Fortunately the royal SeaWing armourers made it impossible to fit a small blade between her plates on her torso. Deluge tried to punch the queen again, but that was a big mistake.

With her watchful eyes, Scarlet saw a small weak spot in her armour, almost unnoticeable for an untrained eye. Relatively small gap in plates, under her armpit, enough to allow smooth movement of her front talons… Or to slide a blade into it. She stabbed the dagger right under Deluge’s left armpit. Her eyes widened in shock, as the sharp blade expanded the metal rings of her chainmail, penetrating her fireproof clothing, and then… Her scales and flesh. She shrieked loudly in pain with tears running down her face, as Scarlet smiled maniacally, jabbing the blade deeper into her muscles, even twisting it around, causing horrible internal damage.

_No. I can’t die like that. I have to come back to Silentskies like I promised. I have to help Snowflare. I need to finally take care of my beautiful Sapphire. No, three moons, please..._

Screaming even louder she kicked the SkyWing queen in her underbelly with as much force as she could create in her state. Scarlet was not expecting that as she let go of the dagger, and fell down several meters, before regaining her balance.

The blade Shore gave her as a present on her nineteenth hatching day was still dug so deep into her flesh, that only the blood soaked handle was visible, jutting from her damaged chainmail. Unable to move her left front leg she discarded her halberd and caught the dagger’s hilt, violently removing it from her armpit, splattering the blood around herself, breathing heavily through her gritted teeth from pain. She dizzily hid the blade in the scabbard and after that she attempted to examine her wound. It was impossible, but the amount of blood that erupted after she removed the dagger made her even more light headed. Worst of all, the nearly constant bright red blood flow seemed to be synchronised with her accelerated heartbeat. She knew what it meant. She felt a horrible dread of impending doom.

_She got my main artery… Three moons… No..._

With desperation in her trembling talons she tried to block off the bleeding, but it was no use. She attempted to press her once golden, but now completely red cloth onto her horrible gash, but maintaining pressure was getting more and more difficult with every passing second. She was losing strength, even started struggling to maintain her altitude. Suddenly she felt an overwhelming coldness spreading on her entire body. Through her blurred vision she saw a Scarlet who was just watching her bleeding, with her horrible smug smirk.

_The bloodloss… It’s happening… So fast..._

“MOMMY!?!?!? NOOOOOO!!!!!!” the horrified squeaky voice shrieked from beneath.

Deluge half consciously turned her head towards the white shape that was flying towards her. It was Snowflare.

“Whaa… What are you doing here…?” SeaWing princess groaned in pain. “G...Go back to r-river... ”

White dragonet dashed past other SkyWings, who were trying to stop him. He soared up to Deluge with a terrified look in his eyes. She tried to smile weakly, but it looked more like wincing from pain. He touched her left leg gently, which was nearly completely covered in blood. Tears started to form in the corners of Snowflare’s young traumatised eyes.

“Oh no… No, no, no, no,” he mumbled in a shaky, desperate tone, beginning to press his small talons against her lethal wound. “Mommy, you can’t die… Please… You can’t!!”

Two SkyWings approached him from behind. Scarlet flew closer towards the SeaWing princess. Deluge’s hovering started to become more and more unstable.

“G...Go… Little one… Delta will take care of you...” She responded, wincing from pain. “B...Before those… SkyWings...”

Snowflare snatched the ring from Deluge’s limp talon.

“I- I ench...”He began, but two SkyWings grabbed the little Snowflare by his hind legs. He shrieked in despair, trying to reach with his bloodied talons to Deluge.

“LEAVE ME ALONE, OR I WILL KILL YOU!!! I WANT TO SAVE MY MOMMY!!!!” he squawked as the two SkyWings looked at each other, expressing surprise, but didn’t let go. He swirled in their grasp, grabbing one of their spears. “I- I ENCHANT THIS SPEAR TO…T-TO K-KILL THOSE TWO SKYWINGS!!!!”

The weapon shot straight upwards, stopped for a second and dove down on the sky dragons.

“ANIMUS!!” The red dragoness shrieked in terror, as she let go of albino dragonet. Another SkyWing, orange coloured one, quickly did the same.

They screamed, horrified, trying to fly away, but the enchantment was already in place. First, the red dragoness got her throat pierced by a homing spear, which caused her to fall coughing up blood frantically. The second dragon created a little bit more distance, but he was destined to die as well. The spear pierced his chest where the heart was, staying in his flesh, as he plummeted down motionessly.

Deluge was getting weaker and weaker, all of her energy consumed by maintaining the flight. All of her surroundings were looking so unreal… So blurry and bright…

_Wait, Snowflare is an animus… Maybe I can still survive…_

Snowflare however… He was completely frozen, shocked by what he just did.

“S…Snowwy...” The SeaWing princess was barely able to speak at this point. She began to lose her altitude faster. “H...Help...”

Albino dragonet turned back to her, hearing her voice, as it woke him from some sort dream and he soared towards her instantly. He looked extremely traumatised by the entire situation. All of the sudden he stopped, widening his eyes as another, orange shape appeared right in between him and Deluge.

“An animus like you might be a rather _terrific_ asset...” Scarlet hissed, punching him in his jaw with her mace’s haft, before he could do anything. He yelped and fell limply towards the ground. “CATCH HIM AND TIE UP HIS SNOUT!!”

“N…No...” SeaWing commander mumbled, as the Scarlet caught her by her throat. Deluge’s wings began to hang limply from her back. She was too weak to maintain flight now. “S…Snowwy...”

“As for you... ” SkyWing queen hissed, smirking at her disgustingly, exhaling her sulphur smelling breath on her. “Sleep well.”

Scarlet raised her mace, and began beating Deluge’s head with such force, that even some of her blue scales and other particles stayed on the weapon, when it was smashing her forehead. Every single blow felt as if her skull was being cracked open, with a dizzying thumps making her head recoil in Scarlet’s grasp. Blood started flooding her right eye, blocking her vision. She stopped seeing the falling mace. At some point everything got quieter as well. She closed her left eye.

_Maybe it’s really the time to sleep… But have they caught Snowflare?_

She opened her eye again, to see that someone dark-gray… or blue was wrestling Scarlet who was getting smaller and smaller. Other black, green and blue shapes were soaring above her as well.

Now she realised why those dragons were getting smaller. She was falling.


	7. Delta

“Can you catch her if we will provide distraction?” Shore asked Deluge’s closest friend.

Delta widened his eyes as he stared at his falling friend, whom he had known and loved like a sister ever since hatching.

“I _will_ catch her,” he responded firmly.

Tempest already attacked the SkyWings from the above, trapping the Scarlet and closest SkyWings in melee. Other sky dragons seeing that their queen is in danger dashed upwards, trying to aid her.

Lieutenant Shore, nodded, signalling with his horn to engage the enemies from the back. But that was not important. He would’ve gone regardless. Deluge only mattered to him. He needed to save her. He was her guardian.

As soon as he and other SeaWings took off from the water he immediately turned towards a lone falling blue dragoness, who he had always treated like a family. Maybe even more than that. With his eyes fixed on her he calculated the collision course, flying as fast as he could. His heart sank as he was getting closer, as some rather gruesome details become now recognisable. The blood… It was covering nearly her entire head, chest and front talons.

Just several meters above the ground he lunged forward, catching her in his arms, slowing her descent to a stop.

“D...Delta...?” she coughed up weakly, turning her head around, to look at him with her left eye. “I was so stupid… Wasn’t I?”

_Oh no…_

Wounded dragoness was cradled in Delta’s front talons. Tears started forming in the corners of his eyes when he looked at the bloody mess that was once her beautiful face. Huge chunk of her scalp was hanging from her forehead, nearly torn apart by some horrible weapon, exposing her skull in some places, which had one huge diagonal crack running across the entire length of it, along with other dents, presumably caused by something heavy. He quickly descended with her, carefully placing her on the cold sand, while supporting her head all the time.

“Deluge...” he whispered, withdrawing his right talon from below her torso. He then noticed how severely her left arm was bleeding. “You… you’re hurt, really badly… I need to get you to the doctor, right now.”

“Am… Am I going to die?” she asked quietly, reaching to him with her right talon.

Delta gulped loudly, taking her talon in his, trying not to look into her eye. He was not even sure whether she still had the right one. There was just too much blood to tell. It appeared that she also had the artery in her left leg punctured, judging by the amount of bright red liquid nearly constantly erupting from her armpit.

_Three moons… I saw dragons dying from much less severe wounds… As much as I hate to admit it… She shouldn’t be alive..._

“I… Understand...” she said quietly, getting her answer from his reaction, closing her remaining eye. “T-tell my little Sapphire… that I will always love her… And please… take care of Silentskies… He will need a lot of support… After… m-my death...”

Delta’s chin started shivering, as his vision was getting blurred by his tears.

“Don’t say such things! I-I won’t allow you to die!” he screamed, hugging her extended talon lovingly. He quickly reached his bandolier, preparing a roll of fresh bandages, exported from his RainWing friend. Those dressings were much more effective and safe than the seaweed that SeaWings normally used to block off their wounds. “I will help you, little sparkle.”

She tried laughing, hearing her dragonethood nickname, but her laugh soon turned into sorrowful sobbing.

“I...I’m so afraid of death, Delta...” she mumbled weakly through her tears. Every word she spoke was a huge effort to her. “All those memories we created… All those travels we experienced… I don’t want to part with you or my family forever… Never laugh with you again… Never hug my daughter...”

“Deluge, you will be alright, just stay with me,” he responded with a cracking voice, his speech having no resemblance to his normally cheerful personality.

“D...Don’t be like that… Don’t give me false… hope,” she whispered to him. He just looked at her with mournful glare.

_I can’t lose you like that… You can’t die here!_

She yelped when Delta began detaching her pauldron, along with the plates protecting her front leg, to fully uncover her wound. He carefully placed his talons into her chainmail rings to tear it apart with his full strength, along with the fabric below. Deluge squawked weakly, as he had to move her wounded leg while doing that. He quickly pressed his talons to the horribly deep laceration, just to slow down the bloodloss.

_Three moons, I need to slow the bleeding just enough to get her to the healers, But she is so cold and pale already… She might not make it._

The sand around them was already getting red from all of the crimson liquid flowing towards the river. Delta breathed in and out, as he began to wrap the clean bandage around her shoulder as tightly as he could. Despite using over ten layers of normally waterproof dressing, the blood quickly started showing up on the surface of the white cloth, since the pressure of the artery so close to the heart was extremely strong.

He quickly closed his eyes, moving her loose scales on her forehead back to their right place. With his talons trembling from stress he wrapped another set of bandages around her head, trying not to cause even more damage. Fortunately she still had her right eye. It was just clogged by the solidifying blood.

_I can’t do much else about it…_

“I can get you to the water, we will be safe there,” he said to her. “Can you walk if I will support you?”

“W...Water?” she whimpered. “We can’t go… They got little Snowwy...”

_Three moons… She really got attached to that odd looking SkyWing dragonet… Apparently her wounded spirit from losing her son never healed properly… She really wanted to be his mother. And when he dashed past me I thought he changed his mind, trying to go back to his kin. Instead he tried to help Deluge… Such loyalty from the dragons from different tribes, just several minutes from first contact… Really weird._

“We can’t go anywhere, especially in your state,” he exclaimed.

“B...But… He’s an animus...” she mumbled. “Scarlet… will make him do horrible things...”

_SkyWing animus? Sounds as unlikely as a kind and humble IceWing... She really got hit hard in her head..._

“We won’t be able to help him without you,”he responded to her, gently placing his talon on hers.“You need to see our healers. Come on.”

He lowered himself, trying to lift the SeaWing princess on his back. She reluctantly supported her front talons on his back, to half standing position. He stood up carefully lifting her, but she wasn’t able to support her own weight. Her back talons were limply touching the ground.

“Oh no… Delta… I… I can’t feel my hind legs… Or even my tail...” she choked out in panic, as her breath quickened. “C...Can’t move them at all...”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, closing his eyes feeling overwhelming sympathy towards her. “I can carry you.”

“Oh… Delta...” she sobbed, closing her left eye, while holding on to his back as strong as she could with her right front leg.

He tried walking slowly towards the water, but Deluge nearly instantly fell off from his back, breaking into tears. She was so weak... He felt unbearable sadness to see his princess, once powerful warrior, now as feeble as a newly hatched dragonet. It was heartbreaking.

“I’m sorry, my friend,” he whispered to Deluge, who was laying on her back, crying. “I’m not sure whether I would be able to carry you on my own… Three moons where did Bloodfin go? Why at the moment when she’s needed the most?”

Suddenly Deluge stiffened and stopped crying, shocked by something he didn’t see. He instantly drew his spear from his back, examining the terrain near them. Nobody was close enough to be a real threat. In the skies above, the SkyWings were engaged in chaotic melee with the heavily armoured SeaWings. He laid his weapon on the ground.

“D...Delta?” she asked, scanning her surroundings with a widely opened eye. “D...Do you see those colors? So… pretty… N...Nearly as beautiful… as the flowers in the rainforest… the ones we once collected… w…with the RainWings...”

Sea dragon gently cradled her head in his talons.

“Deluge, there are no colors or flowers here,” he responded to her, looking straight into her eye which was frantically moving in all directions, with her pupil extending and shrinking into a slit chaotically. “Concentrate, look at me!”

“D...Delta?” she asked weakly. “Don’t… leave me...”

“I’m here! Deluge, stay with me!” he exclaimed, embracing her head with his front talons stronger. “Focus, little sparkle!”

_No! She’s losing her grasp on reality… She lost too much blood._

“I… I can see my mother… And Droplet… my little sister… I’m… So sorry i haven’t stopped you… little one...” Deluge mumbled, reaching into the air above with her talon. “They… They’re smiling… They… They want me to come with them...”

“Don’t listen to them! They’re not real!” he shouted, embracing her head. “Stay with me!”

“Of course… Mother...” she whispered absently, smiling.

For a split second she nearly jumped, as if he suddenly appeared in front of her snout.

“Delta…?” she asked, before passing out softly in his talons.

He opened his mouth in shock, as his friend’s head fell on the side.

“N-no!! Little sparkle!!” he screamed in despair. He shook her by her shoulders. “Wake up!!”

She remained unresponsive. Delta groaned mournfully laying his snout on her chest, embracing her.

“You have so much to live for… Your family… Me...” he sobbed sadly. “You can’t die in my talons!”

He listened to her chest. A faint pulse was still recognisable. She was still alive, but her heart was barely beating.

“Three moons! What happened to her!?” Delta heard a loud surprised shout from the direction of the forest. He looked up with his eyes full of tears, as three SeaWings and horrified IceWing dragonet with a sleeping young SkyWing on his back emerged from the treeline.

“Bloodfin. Where in the bloody blazes were you!?” he roared at the blue female SeaWing, similarly looking to Deluge, but she had oddly red colored fins and webs. Red gold SkyWing woke up from her sleep, looking at him curiously. “Collecting freaking blueberries!?”

“Actually collecting dragonets, who needed help,” the dragoness in question snarled back at him, flapping her red wings angrily. She pointed at the afraid IceWing and the SkyWing who was yawning.“We found those poor souls lost on the battlefield. Ice dragon needs painkillers and bandages, and that pretty dragoness requires a rather complicated operation on her front leg.”

_IS SHE SERIOUS!?!? Leaving her princess just to snatch some dragonets..._

“As you can see, those… _insignificant dragonets_ are not the only ones who need a healer,” he said, looking with sadness at Deluge. “We need to extract her from here, and I can’t do this alone.”

“They are as much dragons as you, me or Deluge,” she said in a dangerous tone. “They will join us.”

“Whatever, will you help me?” he asked, more focused at feeling whether his friend’s heart was still beating.

“I will,” Bloodfin said and approached the unconscious SeaWing princess. She reached out to Deluge’s sack that was hanging from her belt. She widened her eyes as the animus touched stone was not there anymore. “Where is the Jade of Waterbreathing?”

“Gone with the prince and another SkyWing dragonet, she was named Hearth, if it interests you,” Delta said, looking at the red gold dragonet meaningfully. “So stop trying to help them in vain, while we can still save our princess.”

IceWing started breathing heavily, as a sky dragonet wrapped her front talon around his neck, hugging him with care. She whispered something to him, possibly trying to calm him down. Albacore, an azure male SeaWing walked up to them and extended his wing over the dragonets.

“I’m so sorry, but we can’t help you,” he said with sadness in his voice. “You just wouldn’t survive the trip to our healers...”

“It’s not your fault, we don’t blame you,” young SkyWing responded, looking at the IceWing with worry. “But Solstice can barely stand from the pain that is returning to his… You know...”

“Delta, I’m sure you have your improved bandages, and even some painkillers,” Albacore said, looking at him. “Could you please at least spare some of those for them? They’re both wounded and the IceWing got his wing cut off by one of our own soldiers… Let’s at least help him to make up for that.”

“Nothing you can do will make up for that...” Solstice said wincing from pain.

“Of course, young dragon,” SeaWing embraced him, talking in a calm tone. “Can you do this for him, Delta? I will patch him up.”

“But Deluge...” he responded. “She needs to see our healers right now!”

“We will carry her back to our caves, while Albacore will stay behind to help them,” Bloodfin responded, twining her tail around Delta’s. “Please, do this if you still feel the way you did about me.”

Princess’ bodyguard stood up, taking off his bandolier, and passed it to Albacore, who nodded to him.

“You’ve just saved those two lives,” the azure dragon said, bowing slightly. “I respect that.”

“Let’s make it three, come on, help me get her up!” Delta said in a rushed tone as Carp and Bloodfin ran to him, helping to lift their princess, walking with her to the water.

_Please don’t die, little sparkle… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if you did… My life wouldn’t be the same, ever…_

Delta's mind was clouded by worry, as he dove into an underwater tunnel, carrying his beloved friend with two other SeaWings.


	8. Firestorm

Young SkyWing watched the ripples on the water disperse after four SeaWings dove into it. The river and the sand however remained red from the dragoness’ blood, where they entered.

_That looked serious… Hope they’ll save her…_

“Young dragons, let’s go under the cover of the trees,” Albacore said, pointing at the forest with his spear. “Much safer that way. Can you do it, IceWing?”

“Y...Yess...” Solstice hissed with pain.

SeaWing led them behind the treeline, passing several bushes that made them invisible to any unwanted spectators. Solstice struggled to keep up the Albacore’s pace, but bravely fought through his pain, gritting his teeth. They approached the clearing that seemed to be empty at the first glance, but Firestorm’s perceptive green eyes noticed the odd cloth covered mounds, visible on the far side of it.

“Oh, sorry, let’s slightly go back, alright?” Albacore asked, looking visibly uneasy, as his tail swept away a swarm of pine needles from the forest floor. “You don’t need to see any more gruesome details of war today.”

“Are those…?” Firestorm asked, but she already guessed the answer.

“Deceased SkyWings, some of them were so young...,” SeaWing said, sighing with sadness. He looked like he was holding some traumatising memory. “Please, let’s go back.”

_Oh no… There might be my brother… NO!! HE COULDN’T DIE!!! He has powers, he certainly wouldn’t die in this battle…_

SkyWing dragonet tried to reaffirm herself, but she was not sure in the end. A lot of the shapes under the rugs were roughly the same size as him…

_No. Snowflare is alive. He has to be. Without him… I’d be completely alone in this big, horrible world… And that’s impossible, right?_

She covered her head with her wings. That thought was too scary and realistic for her.

“Are you alright, Firestorm?” Albacore asked her in a soft manner, gently touching her wing with his talon. She uncovered her head. Both him and Solstice were looking at her, visibly concerned.

“I’m fine,” she responded quietly, trying to hold back her tears. “Let’s get out of here.”

IceWing and SeaWing glanced at each other, but said nothing. Albacore began to slowly walk into the forest, maneuvering between the trees, as Solstice was trying to keep up. They stopped when the adult sea dragon raised his front leg, turning around to look at both dragonets.

“This place looks concealed enough, we shouldn’t be bothered by anything now,” he said, placing Delta’s bandolier on the ground. “Come closer Solstice and lie down on the ground, I need to look at your wing.”

IceWing dragonet obliged Albacore’s command, quietly yelping from pain.

“Firestorm is not being a burden for you, laying on your back?” SeaWing asked, sitting down on the forest floor. “I can take her away for a while.”

“No, she may stay up there,” Solstice responded. “My wound feels better that way. Her warmth I mean. Besides you might hurt her unintentionally. Her legs are very fragile.”

“You like her warmth? You’re an IceWing though...” SeaWing tilted his head in surprise, halfway through reaching her with his front legs.

“She may stay,” Solstice cut him off. “And don’t touch her.”

“Alright, Solstice, there’s no reason to get defensive,” SeaWing said calmly, raising his front talons in surrendering motion. “I do not mean any harm to either of you. I just want to help.”

“Suddenly all SeaWings are good!? Then why did you guys had to cut off my wing first!?” IceWing shouted and pointed at his wing stump. “Why suddenly you want to help us!? Of course I will get defensive of her, you murderer!!”

Albacore looked down at the ground, visibly hurt by Solstice’s words.

“Solstice...” Firestorm began quietly. “Do not...”

“Oh, and now you will pretend that you regret for being a terrible dragon!? Now that’s precious!!” IceWing continued roaring. “I bet if you would meet us in battle you would kill us without any hesitation!! Dragonets are really easy to kill aren’t they!?”

Azure SeaWing covered his eyes with his wings. Large tears run down on his cheeks.

“Solstice, stop that!” Firestorm shouted. “You’re hurting him!”

“No, he is right. I’m a horrible dragon...” Albacore whispered, reliving traumatising memories in his mind. “Three years ago, when the fires of war weren’t burning so bright I was living with my wife and two beautiful healthy dragonets, on the border of the Sky Kingdom. We had those coastal villages and we’ve been living and trading peacefully with the SkyWings… But then one day, back when SeaWings weren’t sided with any of the alliances yet, the SandWing commander along with ex-commander Cormorant arrived at the caves near our village. They came with a large assault army, and ordered the garrison of our village to prepare for the night raid against the Sky Kingdom. Against the dragons we were friends with and traded just a day ago… And in addition we couldn’t talk about it to anyone, even our families so the SkyWings won’t notice our preparations. If we would disobey, we could be executed. Do you understand? We weren’t supposed to evacuate our civilians!!”

Firestorm listened to SeaWing’s story, while Solstice glanced at her, looking confused.

“I was faced with a horrible decision, either betray my kingdom and risk my own scales or betray my family… I… I chose the latter. We proceeded with the raid, declaring war in the most dishonourable way possible. Can you imagine being forced to kill dragons who you knew for several years already? Merchants from where I bought toys for my dragonets or jewelry for my wife, and even that old dragoness who sold the best venison in all of Pyrrhia… The SkyWings were quick to react however, they beat us back towards the closest river, where we escaped, leaving our SandWing _allies_ at their mercy,” SeaWing spoke with a bitter tone, uncovering his face, looking directly into Firestorm’s eyes. He reached out to his satchel hanging from his back, drawing a small half burned green dragon plushie. “When we came back to the coastal village… It was burned to the ground. The SkyWings retaliated… They slaughtered everyone, not sparing even my poor wife or my little dragonets… To this day I see their burned corpses in my nightmares… Only thing that wasn’t entirely scorched was this little plushie. My daughter named it Leafy. She was hugging it when I found her…”

Albacore stopped for a second and hugged the tiny toy gently, as several more tears escaped his eyes, disappearing into the plushie’s soft scales.

“When I saw you, you reminded me of my family that I failed to save… That’s why I agreed to help you, young dragons. Since that day I lived with guilt that I wasn’t able to save dragons I cared about, because I was afraid. And that’s why I decided to stay and help you.” SeaWing said. “I am no longer afraid and I will help dragons whenever it is possible. Even if it means breaking certain rules.”

_Poor dragon. He is not horrible. War just made him face horrible dilemmas with no good outcomes..._

Firestorm reached out with her healthy talon and touched SeaWing’s cheek gently.

“You are not an evil dragon. Nobody can judge you for what you did,” red dragonet said looking into his sad eyes. “You were under extreme pressure, and you are just a victim of this horrible war, not a murderer or otherwise bad.”

“What she’s saying is true,” Solstice mumbled, staring at the ground in embarrassment. “I’m sorry that I snapped at you. In fact I’m a horrible dragon for spitting such things at you. I… Never realised that you...”

“I don’t mind that, you lost a wing not that long ago, your anger is absolutely justified,” Albacore responded in understanding tone, hiding Leafy in his satchel. “This war makes dragons do things they truly regret later. Remembering that we are still dragons after all can be extremely difficult during the wartime… Can I look at your wing now?”

Solstice nodded and moved his wing slightly, wincing from pain. Albacore reached out to bandolier and took out a huge needle with a vial attached to it that contained an odd looking purple substance. He reached out to touch the base of Solstice’s left wing, making his way down and up his wing arm. When he found a vein he was looking for, he stabbed the needle into it without hesitation and in seconds the entire wing went completely still. SeaWing took the bloodied wing in his talons, extending it as much as it was possible, while ice dragonet gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, expecting horrible pain that didn’t arrive. He glanced back at Albacore who was looking at the wing forearm stump with visible concern.

“Firestorm, can you breathe fire or you are still too young for that?” SeaWing asked the red dragonet, reaching for the knife from his scabbard.

“Uhh… I… I can...” she mumbled, following the blade with her gaze. “W...What are you doing with that knife?”

“I just want to stop the bleeding and sanitise his wound as fast as possible,” SeaWing explained, gently moving the knife in front of Firestorm’s snout. “And for that I need a really hot blade. Could you please heat it up as much as possible?”

“Of course,” red dragonet responded and conjured the flames from her mouth, directing them towards the blade. SeaWing flinched a little, seeing the fire, but held the knife firmly in place until it got red from the heat.

“Thank you,” he said and began to carefully touch IceWing’s stump, as it sizzled, emitting steam. Solstice didn’t even flinch, but closed his eyes, not being able to look at it. “Tell me Firestorm, why did you react so weirdly near that clearing? Do you have someone you know or care about in the military? Three moons, it sounds so out of place, asking dragonet about such things...”

“Yes, I have… He is… or was my brother. He was named Snowflare since his scales are completely white,” SkyWing began.

“Doesn’t that mean that he is uhh… Fireless?” Albacore asked, cutting off a part of the membrane hanging uselessly from Solstice’s wing. “I thought the SkyWings are killing such dragonets.”

“No he is not fireless, just an albino. Although, yes he was close to being… _discarded_ ,” red dragonet responded sadly. “I lost him in the battle, not sure whether he is dead or alive despite his...”

_Damn!! My tongue is too long!! Grr, can’t tell him that my brother is an animus!_

“So, you say that he was albino, red eyes, and named Snowflare?” he asked her, pouring some liquid onto IceWing’s wound. Red dragonet nodded. “Well then, he survived the battle...”

Albacore quickly summarised what happened to Snowflare, and that he was thinking that she’s in fact dead.

“So you are saying that princess Deluge _adopted him_?” she asked, swinging her tail in surprise, but then she realised that the same dragoness was near the river. “The same dragon who was nearly dead close to that river? Please tell me that Snowflare is safe now.”

“Well she adopted him, but I’m not sure what happened in the meantime. I was with you two then. Don’t know how she got hurt or why everyone was fighting in the skies,” he sighed, wrapping the white cloth around the Solstice’s wing. “But judging by what Delta said he was not among the ones who were escorted to our camp. But maybe he had forgotten, I don’t really know. But if he is with SeaWings he is certainly safe. If Deluge would survive he would become the one of the safest dragons in all of Pyrrhia. She’s really caring about her soldiers, so I guess it applies to dragonets as well.”

_Snowy is alive! And that’s what matters._

“Alright, there’s nothing more I can do with you, Solstice. I patched your wing as much as possible, hopefully the pain won’t return to it. But at least the bleeding is completely gone,” Albacore said, as the IceWing dragonet looked at his horribly shortened, but covered by clean bandage, wing. SeaWing looked at Firestorm’s front leg. “Is that a spear? Let me examine it.”

Red dragonet extended her wounded forearm as Albacore gently took her talon, staring into the wound.

“Gosh that dug deep. Your muscles more than likely will be permanently damaged, no matter the treatment anyone can apply,” SeaWing said, shaking his head. “I can take it out, but it is very possible that you won’t be able to grab anything with your left talon in the foreseeable future.”

_Truly I am a cripple now…_

“If you can, please remove that,” Firestorm responded quietly, looking down in sadness. “Can’t do anything with my talon right now either, besides small movements...”

_Can’t move one leg, I will possibly lose another… At least Snowflare is alive..._

Red dragonet closed her eyes as Albacore was removing the spearhead as gently as he could, and then sewing her scales back together and applying the last pieces of bandage that was left in Delta’s bandolier. She felt a cold narrow snout softly touching her neck. Firestorm opened her eyes. It was Solstice. Despite his cold scales his gentle touch felt really soothing.

“Everything will be alright, Firestorm,” he comforted her, looking into her eyes with compassion. She felt an odd sensation in her stomach. “Even if you won’t be able to walk ever again I will take care of you. I will carry you wherever you would like to go.”

_He… He really cares about me… That’s really cute..._

She reached out with her talon embracing IceWing’s head.

“That’s… That’s really nice for you to say...” she responded, smiling. “When I grow up slightly… I think I should be able to take you to the skies with me… You won’t be bound to the ground for your life if we will be together.”

Albacore looked away, possibly trying not to interrupt them. IceWing locked his eyes with SkyWing’s.

“Firestorm… I… Uhh... ” he mumbled, as his eyes stared down at the ground. “I think I love you.”

Thousands of thoughts raced through the red dragonet’s head in an instant as she let go of his head, thoroughly shocked. She moved so fast that she nearly fell off from Solstice’s back, but he prevented that with his remaining wing.

_What!? Three moons! I… What do I even respond to THAT!? He is nice and all… But I still barely know him! We just met like one hour ago! I think it is too early to talk about such things…_

Noticing Firestorm’s shocked reaction, Solstice drooped his elegant slender snout, horribly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn't have...” he whispered. “Please forget it.”

“Wait... I’m just surprised that you told me so early about this....” she said gently grabbing his cheek. “I didn’t think about it yet, so please let’s get to know each other a bit more, before such statements, alright? I mean… I really appreciate that you like me very much… And I think I really like you as well... But...”

“You do?” Solstice said as his eyes rose up again, and he even smiled slightly. “I understand that you may want a bit more time, but you already did so much to me… We would really fit together with each other.”

“Umm… How so?” Firestorm asked, visibly baffled as she withdrawn her front talon.

“You gave me hope, to see the world from the skies again… You are able to calm me down when I need it...” he said quietly, leaning his snout against her neck. “You are my wings while I can be your legs…”

“Please, give it some time, Solstice,” Albacore said suddenly. “She’s just four years old while you are like, what… Seven? I bet she’s not thinking about such commitments yet. She might actually feel really uncomfortable facing such a decision. Best relationships need time and patience, young IceWing.”

“Maybe you’re right...” white dragonet sighed.

Firestorm looked at the skies and breathed a sigh of relief. And then she realised that the sounds of SeaWing skirmish weren’t heard anymore.

“What do we do now? The battle above us ended,” she said, directing her question at Albacore.

“Technically that’s the moment where I would have to leave you in the wilderness and go back to my unit...” he responded with sadness. “But do you have anywhere to go?”

Firestorm looked down and shook her head, but Solstice visibly cheered up.

“I know where my mother lives, she will surely take us in… Despite what I and my dad did to her, she always kept telling me in her letters that she loves me.” he exclaimed, sweeping the pine needles away with his tail. “And I’m sure she will really like you too, Firestorm! Aurora was always so warm, loving and caring, unlike most IceWings...”

“But what about you, Firestorm, don’t you want to see your brother?” Albacore asked her.

_Hmmm… Yes I do, but if he’s safe with the SeaWings… Solstice would have to travel alone, through the Sky Kingdom… I don’t really want to leave him. But why? I... I don't know... But guess my presence may in fact save his life if we will encounter any SkyWings…_

“I would really love to, but if he’s safe I think he doesn’t need me that much. But Solstice on the other talon...” she said looking at the IceWing with her green eyes, who smiled at her. “I don’t want to leave him alone. If he would encounter any SkyWings he might end up dead. But with me, we have bigger chances of convincing them otherwise.”

“It’s settled then...” Albacore said as he slowly started to walk away. However he suddenly stopped and turned back to look at them. “But wait, where exactly is your mother residing?”

“Uhhh… I remember her letter from two months ago. She was talking about Scorpion’s Den if I recall correctly,” Solstice responded, scratching his head. “However she wrote to me that she was feeling absolutely miserable here, and planned to move closer to the Claws of the Clouds mountains or somewhere close to the Jade Mountain. But the problem is… That I don’t really know where those places are...”

“No wonder an IceWing felt unhappy in the middle of the desert...” SeaWing spoke and sat down, twining his tail around his hind legs. “But do you seriously wanted to go alone on the journey this long, through a half of a war torn continent!? You have no chances of getting there on your own. How do you even plan on getting food, or anything like that!? On foot it might take you over a month of exhausting journey...”

“Then what shall we do then?” Solstice asked as he laid his remaining wing on the ground. “I want to go to my mother, to apologise and finally live with her. And don’t want to go to the SeaWing camp… I might meet the soldier who… Hurt me.”

“And I don’t want to leave him alone,” Firestorm added.

Albacore touched the satchel containing his deceased daughter’s plushie. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out. Firestorm could tell that he was under a hard dilemma again.

“I can’t let you go alone to die. I would really like you to come with me to SeaWing encampment safely, but at the same time I’d hate to stand in the way of your reunion with Aurora, Solstice...” SeaWing said. “I will go with you. It… It may cost me my position in the army, but… I feel that’s what my family would like me to choose if they were alive...”

“You would really do such a thing for me?” IceWing asked in surprise.

“Yes. I will protect you dragonets, as if you were my own,” azure SeaWing swore, placing his clenched right talon on his heart, as his black breastplate clancked in response. “For my wife and children that I failed to save.”

Solstice stood up and cheerfully brushed his remaining bright blue wing against Albacore’s. In response he just smiled slightly.

“Now that’s settled, let’s get away from here as soon as possible,” SeaWing said sternly, getting up as well and began walking away. “This place will be swarming with the SkyWings shortly, regardless whether my kin won or lost, so move your tail and don't drop Firestorm, Solstice!”


	9. Delta

_Please little sparkle, endure just a bit longer…_

Three SeaWings dragged their unconscious princess out of the underground lake that was connected to the entire web of tunnels running long miles below the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. Delta, Bloodfin and Carp stopped for a second and fell flat on the rocky ground with a loud metallic thump, trying to catch breath.

“Come here now!!! Help us carry the princess and tell the healers!!!” Delta screamed, ignoring the normal password and response code and breathing heavily from exhaustion at three guards who walked closer to inspect the arrivals. He, Bloodfin and Carp stood up with difficulty after the strain that entire travel put them into, carrying Deluge. He looked at his princess and tried to lift her again but it was nearly impossible out of the water.

_I… I can’t carry you any longer… After three hours of fighting with the current in heavy armour, lifting you now is too much… I’m sorry..._

He laid his ear on her chest trying to hear her pulse. Weak and irregular bumps were barely recognisable. She was on the brink of death.

_We are here… Please don’t die, little sparkle..._

“Pass...” one of the guards began walking up to them, but another already started running into the other tunnel, leading to the main encampment.

“SHE’S DYING, YOU IMBECILE!!” Delta shrieked at her face as she relented. “TRY TO BE USEFUL AND HELP US CARRY HER!”

“But...” SeaWing sentry began stuttering, trying to recognise the dragons. “Protocols state...”

“MY PROTOCOLS STATE THAT IF DELUGE WILL DIE BECAUSE OF YOU, I WILL PERSONALLY PLUCK YOUR EYES OUT! OUT OF THE WAY, USELESS!” He shouted, punching the guard so forcefully that she fell over yelping from pain.

Another sentry, a large bright green male, rushed to SeaWing princess and wordlessly picked her up by her upper body as Bloodfin, Delta and Carp supported her hind legs and tail. They hastened through the rather narrow tunnel that allowed only four dragons to pass side-by-side making it easy to defend, if needed, leading to the main cave, nearly as big as the main hall of the Summer Palace. This underground chamber contained the encampment of the SeaWings. Normally it was a rather noisy place, with a few campfires burning to cook their food, which were surrounded by tents, but now everything was comparatively quiet with soldiers gone. Despite this quite a number of SeaWings were still present in the camp, mostly resting at this moment. Armourers, blacksmiths, quartermasters, cooks, suppliers, messengers and healers were present at all times, providing a rather reliable foundation for the army logistics, so the soldiers can fully focus on fighting and honing their skills, instead of starving or trying to reassemble the broken weapons on their own for example.

They ran through the camp, beelining straight towards the healer’s huge pavilion, as they passed numerous blue and green snouts poking from the tents, looking at the unusual sight with curiosity.

When they approached the huge blue tent, the lead healer, an oddly coloured yellow SeaWing named Angelfish, was already waiting for them at the entrance.

“Three moons, that looks really bad… Place her on that secluded bed,” she said pointing at one of the furthest beds with her tail, where four other healers were waiting already.

Angelfish led them along the rows of now empty beds, soon to be filled with dragons returning from the battle. Only exception was the orange SkyWing dragonet who was being tended to by one healer, holding her by her front leg. As soon as Delta and three other SeaWings carefully placed princess Deluge on the soft mattress, the healers began to strip her away from the heavy armour and chainmail to allow for easier examination. Angelfish took blue dragoness’ tightly bandaged arm and inspected the blood soaked cloth. She began unwrapping the fabric soon after the other healers laid the metal plates, chainmail and fireproof cloth on the ground. Delta heard a small commotion behind his back. Carp and other SeaWing left the healer’s pavilion quietly.

“How serious is the wound on her armpit?” Yellow, black striped SeaWing asked Delta.

“I believe you would be able to fit your entire talon into it,” he responded, watching Deluge’s closed eyes with worry. “Arteries in her arm are punctured as well, I think. She’s been in this state for three hours already.”

Yellow SeaWing widened her blue eyes, as other physicians stopped what they were doing.

“Three hours with such a vital artery pierced!? She would be dead within one hour at most!!” Lead healer exclaimed in surprise.

Angelfish shook her head, as she put away the used bandage. Only a small amount of crimson liquid bubbled out from the wound.

“If this is the blood from the artery, that’s really bad,” yellow SeaWing relented. “Koi, bring me the entire transfusion kit, she desperately needs new blood, or the brain damage will be inevitable. At this point we can’t rely on anything that will accelerate the blood production. Too late for that.”

“Three moons, her blood pressure is really low, as well as her heartbeat is weak,” another SeaWing said, touching Deluge’s neck. “She had to lose nearly a half of it...”

“Do you know anyone with compatible blood type to her?” Angelfish asked the SeaWings.

“Ummm, in fact I have the same blood type as her. If she needs it then I’m willing to donate as much as she needs,” Delta said in wobbly tone, as Bloodfin twined her tail around his, getting closer to his body. “Please save her...”

“It’s a miracle that she’s still alive… We don’t even have procedures that prepare us for such a unique case, so we have to improvise,” Angelfish said as Koi brought a set of needles with various pipes and another strange looking equipment. “But are you sure that you have the same blood type? If you don’t it will most certainly kill her.”

“Yes, I’m sure. When we once travelled to the rainforest one of the RainWing healers showed us how that exactly works. We even checked our own blood by mixing it, and it was not clotting, creating some sort of jelly or anything,” Delta responded, recalling one of the pre-war events. Angelfish raised her brows in surprise, but began to examine Deluge’s head. Koi began connecting various pipes, vials and needles together.

_It’s almost tiring how many dragons see the RainWings as such an useless tribe. They literally have the best healers, herbalists and alchemists, but still there’s that stereotype that they are lazy and useless… Maybe their queens are a bit passive, and they sleep through the day… But that’s how their metabolism works… However there’s a word that they are degrading with each passing year… But that’s not important now._

Yellow SeaWing whistled with concern as she unwrapped Deluge’s head and noticed the extent of the damage to her head.

“Uhh, is this that bad?” Delta asked, not being able to withstand the overwhelming worry for his closest friend. Sensing the tension in his voice Bloodfin gently embraced him with her wings. “I mean, she was talking to me normally, but on the other talon she couldn’t move her legs or tail.”

“Then it might be worse than you can imagine. Sorry to break it down to you like that, but it means that hopefully either a bloodloss made them numb for a moment, or it was caused by permanent brain damage.” yellow healer said, drooping her snout. “And judging by the state of her skull, the latter is more likely.”

Delta’s jaw dropped. His breath quickened as he felt that tears began gathering in the corners of his eyes. Bloodfin, seeing that her significant other was close to crying, touched her snout with his and embraced him gently with her front legs.

“She will be alright, I’m sure it was just caused by that bloodloss,” she whispered to his ear. “Princess Deluge will be fine, my darling.”

“That’s really uncertain. One more hit to her skull and her brain would’ve been laying on the ground in Sky Kingdom...” one of the healers said, as he was examining Deluge’s head. “If she would survive the next twenty four hours, I’d call it some sort of divine intervention or just plainly magic.”

“Also we would possibly have to cut off her front leg as well,” Koi added as she connected the large needle to some odd looking green pipe. “If the blood wasn’t delivered there for three hours straight, then necrosis likely started eating her arm already.”

Delta’s heart sank, as violent sobs began to nearly tear apart his ribs. He, an honour guard to a SeaWing princess, broke down into tears like a small dragonet, for his poor friend. He felt the warmth of Bloodfin’s red wings embracing him with love.

_Even if she survives, she will forever be disabled, either physically, mentally or both… I don’t even know what’s worse… Being trapped by your own body or your own mind…_

He let himself lean against Bloodfin’s armoured neck who hugged him stronger and began to stroke his head gently.

_It’s all my fault. I haven’t stopped her when I could. I’m the only one who should be blamed for her state. I… I failed to protect her… How I could ever look into Silentskies’ or Sapphire's eyes again… They won’t shout at me… Even though I deserve it... They will just be silently disappointed… And that’s even worse… They’ll falsely state that is not my fault, despite the fact they’d feel that way, deep in their hearts..._

Green dragon dragon felt someone touching him on his shoulder. He looked up to notice the yellow talon gently laid on his pauldron.

“Delta...” Angelfish began quietly. “We will do everything we can to prevent cutting off her leg. That’s only the worst case scenario. Nobody actually saw the full extent of the damage to her leg. We will provide the best care we are capable of for her. She is in good talons now.”

“Please, save her...” Delta mumbled, swallowing his tears. “If she would die… Or be permanently maimed... I… The grief will kill me… I’m the reason she’s dying!! I LET HER FIGHT SCARLET ALONE!!!”

“It’s not your fault, my love” Bloodfin spoke softly. “Nobody could’ve predicted this outcome… Besides, how would you stop a princess from doing what she wants?”

“She always tried acting as a hero...” Delta whispered, but his sobs made his speech barely recognisable. “I… I remember when we read that one stupid fairy tale where princess got kidnapped by scavengers… And how from that day, she always wanted to prove that she as a princess doesn’t need any protection… In fact she also felt an overwhelming desire to be a hero… To adventure, meet dragons from all different tribes… Prove that we can live with dragons from other tribes… To change the world for the better...”

“Delta, you can still help her. She needs your blood to survive,” Yellow SeaWing interrupted, looking into his eyes. “We will use an experimental way to transfer your blood nearly straight to her body, so we can increase her blood pressure and hopefully get her heart running properly again. And for that I need a calm and brave dragon who won’t budge during the transfusion.”

“I… I will do everything to save her life...” Green dragon responded, trying to stop sobbing, as Bloodfin gently wiped his tears with a small cloth tissue.

“Alright, take off your armour then,” Angelfish said. “I need to get easy access to your veins. Can you help him, Bloodfin?”

“Easy access _only_ to his veins, right?” Blue SeaWing asked squinting suspiciously at her, but already began detaching Delta’s plates.

“Obviously, you jealous lizard,” Angelfish rolled her eyes and turned to Delta. “After you would do this, please, sit here and extend one of your front legs.”

Green dragon with help of Bloodfin followed healer’s command as she began to sense which of his veins would perform the best for this task. Finding what she needed, she stopped and gestured to Koi to come.

“Now relax, Delta,” yellow SeaWing said. “It will make the entire process easier, as we would be able to draw your blood faster. And Bloodfin? If you can, please escort him to his tent afterwards. He will be very weak after transfusion, Deluge needs a lot of blood.”

Blue dragoness nodded.

“I will try to calm… down...” Delta mumbled.

Koi walked closer with some weird contraption that was linked to some pump, which further was connected to Deluge’s right arm. Another two healers were stitching her most serious wound when one was working on her head.

“Alright, I will now begin drawing your blood,” Angelfish said, receiving the needle from Koi. “Are you ready?”

“Of course...” He responded, looking at SeaWing princess’ closed eyes.

_Please, stay alive…_

He felt a mild piercing pain in his forearm, and began to slightly panic, seeing how much of his blood was traversing through half transparent pipe.

“Delta, focus,” Angelfish began and took Deluge’s silver necklace, hanging from her neck, into her talons. “And tell me about this beautiful necklace.”

“It… It was made by her young dragonet. She is a really gifted goldsmith, despite her age,” Green dragon responded, trying to focus on Deluge’s silver necklace more than on the Koi. “Oh, and I remember Deluge saying to never under any circumstances take it off!!”

“Really? Why?” Angelfish asked, reading the inscription. “For my beloved mother, so she may always return safely to her family. Hmm… Such a beautiful trinket takes a lot of dedication.”

“She wanted to honour Sapphire’s wish. And yes, her dragonet really loves her,” Delta said. “She is such an adorable little thing… Always rather sad, not being able to spend time with her mother. Deluge always missed the point when it came to that… I feel like she wasn’t ready to become a mother when she laid her eggs. I still remember how in the middle of her speech to disprove the rumours about her relations with Silentskies she began to lay her dark blue eggs, in front of the half of the SeaWing court. I think I never saw that haughty nobility to open their mouths so widely in shock. I mean Deluge was surprised as well, but still...”

“Ahh, I remember the outrage...” Yellow SeaWing said. “The noble houses were fuming when they got to know that not only that those eggs won’t be destroyed, but also that she would in fact marry that NightWing, and he was not even blue blooded! Some nobles even demanded to exile or simply execute them on the spot for that. Even heard of the rumours about some assasination attempts on her eggs… I still wonder how queen Coral allowed that to happen… The SeaWing-NightWing relationship and their hybrid offspring I mean...”

“Fear. Or maybe respect. She knew how capable warrior Deluge was. I believe she would win the duel against the queen, and trust me, our princess would do anything to have the things her way, even if it would mean challenging her own sister...” Delta spoke, looking into the healer's blue eyes. “Also don’t you remember how or why Coral actually got her throne? Minor disagreement about her love to Gill. Coral insisted that she wanted to marry him but our previous queen disagreed. And after that came the challenge. Our ex-queen didn’t even lift a talon in her own defense… She really loved her children... Couldn't bring herself to harm Coral. But our princess here doesn't share such sentiments with her. Knowing Deluge, she might’ve also challenged Coral, if she would try to stop her marriage.”

“So Queen Coral decided that it is better to anger the noble houses instead of risking the direct challenge to her throne… At least king Gill calmed down the nobility with his sophisticated diplomacy.” Angelfish nodded and began to touch Deluge’s throat to feel her pulse. “But why is the queen allowing Deluge to have her own private army then? I mean us, Heralds and stuff like that. Isn’t that a threat to her rule as well?”

“Princess Deluge never wanted to be a queen. And Coral knows that. Even if she would’ve somehow inherited the throne, she would very likely establish some sort of a proxy queen instead. And that’s the first reason. Also Deluge will support her sister as long as there are no strong disagreements between them, they’re family after all,” Delta stated, feeling slightly dizzy. He had given up a lot of blood already. “I assume Coral would like to get rid of her, but as long as she is still rather useful and her interests don’t collide with hers too much, she is willing to accept Deluge’s antics.”

“I, uhh... I think I understand.” Angelfish responded, possibly realising how serious the topic was. “That’s enough politics for today, or we will be accused of scheming against the queen or something!”

_Wait… Scheming… Deluge is now weak! It’s a perfect moment for Coral to take her out!_

“Okay Delta, we can’t drain any more of your blood. You look really pale now. You’ve helped her greatly already.” Angelfish said, gesturing to Koi so she may stop the transfusion. She followed her order and quickly wrapped the seaweed bandage tightly around his arm. Yellow SeaWing turned to Bloodfin, extending her talon that held a red vial. “You are his girlfriend, right? Can you escort him to his tent and give him this potion? It will make his body replenish the lost blood faster.”

“Of course,” Bloodfin said and looked at the green dragon with care, gently touching his shoulder and hiding the vial in her bag. “Come my love. We can even go to that underground hot stream we’ve found once. We both deserve some relaxation after this day… Are you up for some lovely warm bath with me, my dear?”

“But… Deluge...” Delta mumbled as Bloodfin helped him get up. “I need to protect her… Can’t leave her alone… She’s still in danger! The queen might want to kill her!”

“She’s in good talons now, my love,” Blue dragoness whispered to his ear, stroking his head gently. She possibly wasn’t taking his suspicions seriously. “They’ll do anything in their power to save her. There’s nothing more you could possibly do now, except harming yourself by not following the Angelfish’s advice to settle down a bit. We can come back after you will get some rest.”

“No… You don’t understand...” Delta said, trying to oppose her, but she was already dragging him towards the exit. “I need to be with her! It’s important! She’s important!”

“More important than me?” Bloodfin asked quietly.

“Right now, yes!” Delta exclaimed, spitting out words dizzily.

“We will soon be back to your favourite dragoness,” Bloodfin said in a sad tone, visibly hurt by his words. “Just try to relax for a bit.”

_Yeah, as if it’s the easiest thing in the world, when Deluge fights for her life and Coral might be already plotting to get rid of her only potential challenger..._

Two dragons left the healers’ pavilion, one worried about his lifelong friend’s survival, the second feeling both insignificant and slightly jealous for the hundredth time in her life.


	10. Sapphire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week later...

Small dark blue dragonet woke up from her slumber. She blinked a couple of times to adjust her eyesight to the relatively bright interior of her room with blue marble walls, lit up mildly by a crystal chandelier. She was lying in her bed, carefully covered with her blanket. She looked around herself and noticed snoring Silentskies, half kneeling and half laying on her bed, with his talons extended towards her. Her most sincere friend, an oddly coloured orange SeaWing named Shrimp, was laying on the large cushion on the far corner of her bed, curled up into a coil, while nibbling on her own tail through her sleep. Other than that there was an oddly large amount of various potions, vials, herbs and other medical equipment laying on her nightstand. Sapphire sat up on her bed and looked at her front talons entirely covered in silver NightWing scales nearly to half length of her forearms. She noticed at least half a dozen needle marks on her arms.

_Oh my… What happened and why am I here right now?_

She closed her eyes trying to recall the events that led her to her bedroom.

_Right, I was at the dinner with my father, his ‘sister’, Webs and Shrimp, right after my lessons… Even uncle Gill visited… But then? Everything gets so blurry… I snapped at Starsight… And I felt such a strange pain..._

She clutched her head with her silver talons, trying to conjure her memories.

_But where that pain came from?? Oh, right… My left arm, I think… And then everything got… Weird… Was I in the air? Small white dragon was flying towards me… Calling me mother? What the…? He had that weird aura around him… Animus?_

Suddenly she felt slightly light headed and drooped her snout as her golden necklace fitted with numerous gems dangled on her neck.

_And then I woke up, my snout deep in the food… Such an embarrassment in front of a King... Everyone was around me, dad embracing me with concern… Even Gill himself looked worried… He wanted to summon a doctor… And then that excruciating pain almost as if something was splitting my head open… I screamed and fell over, passing out…_

Sapphire widened her eyes in realisation, touching her jewelry piece.

_Necklace! Something very, very bad happened to mom… Oh no… I should’ve studied that enchantment more before casting…_

She silently uncovered herself from the blanket and stood up on her bed, trying not to wake up her NightWing father. She walked to the edge of her bed and looked behind. Silentskies moved slightly through his sleep. Sapphire carefully jumped to the ground, trying to make it as quiet as possible.

_Right, now I need to get to my hidden stash for the scroll. It contains the information I need._

Small dark blue dragonet nearly perfectly blended into the shadows in her bedroom, as she carefully crouched towards the exit, walking around her bed, with her body nearly touching the cold marble floor. At that moment she noticed a small change in regular sleeping dragon’s breathing. Someone woke up.

“Sapph-” feminime voice began in surprise, but the blue dragonet already reacted. She stopped and raised her front talons, swiping them towards the orange tail. It flew upwards, twining itself around orange snout, smothering Shrimp’s words as she carefully stood up from her cushion and warily turned towards Sapphire. Despite her own tail making her snout immobile she smiled seeing a small dragonet in the shadows.

“Be quiet, please,” blue dragonet said and placed her front talons back on the ground, freeing orange SeaWing’s snout. “I need to sneak out to my workshop, but my dad mustn't know about this.”

Shrimp glimpsed at sleeping NightWing, but decided to jump down from the bed carefully and to crouch towards Sapphire. Orange SeaWing despite being a six year old dragonet was towering over a small four year old hybrid that was barely reaching half the length of her neck with her snout.

“Three moons, we were so worried about you! Please don’t do such things ever again!” Shrimp whispered and gently twined her SeaWing tail around Sapphire’s small long tail that looked like a slim blue noodle in comparison. “I- I nearly told him that you-”

“Shhh! I’m happy to see you as well, but we need to get out of here. It’s important.” Sapphire said as she brushed her small wings against Shrimp’s. “It’s about my mom.”

“Little one, your moth-” Shrimp began and looked down at her with compassion.

“Shh! Keep quiet! Or I will tangle your tail around your snout permanently,” Sapphire interrupted her harshly. Shrimp widened her eyes in horror, but calmed down slightly as soon as blue dragonet spoke again. “Don’t worry, I was just joking around. Ummm... Can I hide in your wings, so you can carry me to my workshop without anyone noticing?”

“You’re crazy, my princess,” Shrimp said quietly, laying down on the ground so little dragonet could scale her back. Sapphire climbed orange dragoness and as soon as she found a comfortable position Shrimp’s wings created a low roof above her head.

Orange SeaWing stood up and swiftly walked out of the bedroom to a brighter corridor on the elevated floor of the manor. Being covered by warm orange wings Sapphire could only wait for her friend to finally arrive at their destination. She heard a noise of the keys unlocking the door and two dragons entered the room, as orange SeaWing closed the entryway behind herself. The light emanating through the blue dragonet’s cover has gotten pitch black.

“We are here, Saph,” Orange SeaWing whispered to her friend as she moved her wings away.

Sapphire looked around her workshop, nearly entirely covered in darkness. It took her a second to adjust her eyesight to notice that her equipment was horribly misplaced.

_Someone was digging through my things..._

Blue dragonet jumped from Shrimp’s back and quickly walked over to her main desk, where she’d always worked on engravings. Various tools like calipers, safety goggles, gravers and other equipment were laid seemingly randomly, as opposed to her normally tidy order.

“Sapphire, my dear, please, you have to tell your father about your powers,” Orange SeaWing said with concerned voice, looking at Sapphire, who started putting everything back to it’s right place, namely small locked boxes containing precious gems and her tools. “Silentskies really loves you, he spent nearly entire week near you, barely sleeping… He was too worried for your life. He is your dad and-”

“We had this talk already. Do you think he will still love me after I’d reveal such a thing to him? Do you think that I will still be his little innocent dragonet?” Sapphire said angrily. Shrimp opened her mouth, but blue dragonet spoke again. “No, he won’t. Don’t you remember the stories he’d told about various animi? Like Darkstalker, Albatross, Fateweaver or Wraith? He resented them. _‘I’m so glad that we don’t have any of those animus monsters in our family’..._ I was so close to crying when he told me that... He will probably become afraid of me, or the fact that I could lose myself to my power. And if anyone from the royal family, so even my mom, gets to know about this they could exploit me. I don’t want to be forced into doing things that I don’t want to do, and maintaining this as a secret is a key to keep everyone safe and happy.”

“They are your parents, Saph… If there are dragons in this world that you should put your trust into, it's them. I believe that they will help you to control your gift. Silentskies really loves you, my dear. I’m sure he will accept you for what you are. I accepted that, despite the fact I’m just your friend,” Orange SeaWing laid her talon on the small dragonet’s shoulder. Sapphire looked up to her and gave her a smile, but the effect was suppressed with sadness in her eyes. “Besides I think he suspects something about you. He was searching your rooms for all the things that might’ve been related to your state. He thought you’ve gotten some severe poisoning from a dangerous substance. But on the other talon he also… Tested you for the presence of animus magic in your body while you were unconscious.”

Cold chill ran down the blue dragonet’s spine as she widened her eyes.

_Three moons… I hope my power muffling prevented him from finding out…_

“But don’t worry, your counterspells worked. That scroll of yours seems to really contain valuable knowledge,” Shrimp said as Sapphire had gone back to her work. “But at the same time it concerns me greatly… After you enchanted that necklace, you’ve become… Different. Somewhat colder and more distanced. Silentskies noticed that as well.”

“That’s none of your business. I have full control of my powers and my thoughts. I just got weaker briefly after casting that enchantment, that’s all,” Sapphire snarled angrily. “I had to take off my protection for a bit, but that’s really all, I feel better now.”

“But for how long can you maintain that state? Where’s the limit and how do you want to even stop your soul from decaying, if the more potent spells require you to take off your own protective necklace?” Shrimp said and gently embraced her friend with her wing. “I don’t want to lose you like that. I really like you, my friend, the way you always were. I don’t want you to change like that...”

_Who does she think she is!? Poking her snout into the matters she has no idea about! She’s inferior to me in every single aspect! I could silence her for good in one flick of my claw…_

“Sapphire...? Are you still here?” orange SeaWing asked her, visibly concerned. “You… You started staring absently at me, but it looked as if you were in some sort of trance...”

Small dragonet sat down and huddled her own head in her talons.

_From where did that thought come from!?_

“It was nothing...” she said quietly. “I just… I just got lost in my thoughts.”

“Gosh, that was creepy. And you are saying that using your magic is not affecting you after this and being in a coma for the entire week!” Shrimp exclaimed and hugged the blue dragonet lovingly. “I’m just so worried about you… Please, you have to stop using your powers without your necklace, before it’s too late.”

“Hmph, better tell me about what happened to my mom while I was… Away,” Sapphire said sternly, wriggling out from Shrimp’s embrace. She quickly got up to see if anything was missing from her workshop.

“Five days ago we received a message that said that she got wounded really badly… Barely made it out alive from her duel with SkyWing queen. She survived, despite the fact that her wounds and blood loss were objectively lethal,” orange SeaWing said, watching her friend warily, as she nodded. “Yesterday we received another message that stated that healers managed to stabilise her state and she’s currently in a coma, but very likely her brain is severely damaged. Delta even sent for a RainWing healer, and even she considers this situation as dramatic. They are attempting to wake her up, but… Her legs could be paralysed and nobody can tell whether she’d be still mentally capable of anything after her rousing, even if they ever manage doing that...”

Sapphire stopped for a second, accidentally dropping a pair of calipers she was holding.

_No… Mommy, you can’t do this to me! I… I will save you, no matter the cost._

She dove under her desk and reached for a concealed crevice in the wall that contained her scroll, the source of all animus knowledge she currently had. But the ancient, enchanted piece of paper was not here anymore. Sapphire’s breath quickened, as she desperately was scouring through the empty space.

“It’s not here anymore, my friend,” Shrimp said quickly, as her hybrid friend withdrew from under the desk and turned around to look into her eyes intensively. “When your father began searching this area I managed to hide it elsewhere, to prevent him from finding out.”

_This inferior dragon touched my property without asking!?_

“You touched _my scroll_?” Sapphire snarled in anger, as orange SeaWing started slowly walking back towards the exit in fear. “Where is it now!? I need it to help my mother!”

“Gosh, Sapphire! Calm down! You… You are horrifying me!” Shrimp whimpered, creating more distance between her and the small dragonet by walking backwards. “I… I will tell you, but… You have to promise me that you won’t use your magic without your necklace in the future. This power… It changed you already!”

_This pathetic dragon really thinks that she can command me!?_

“I won’t promise you anything like that! I need this magic and knowledge to save Deluge!” Sapphire shouted as orange SeaWing stumbled into a stool, knocking it over. Animus dragonet extended her right front talon to shivering dragoness. “Give me the scroll. Now.”

“N-no. I… I can’t!” Shrimp squawked wobbly, trembling from fear. Her orange tail hit the blue wall of the room as she huddled herself in terror. “Using m-more of your magic will make you worse… And I can barely recognise you already! You were never like this!”

_My mother needs my magic. Friend or not this dragon is an obstacle standing in my way, making me unable to help my beloved mom. Obstacles like this… Need to be removed._

“Fine,” Sapphire said absently and flicked her right talon at the stool that immediately shot towards orange SeaWing, hitting her head with a horrible crack, breaking in half. Shrimp shrieked in pain and fell over with a loud thump, clutching her nose which began bleeding. “Do you want to tell me now?”

“N-no! Stop this! I-I won’t tell you!!” Shrimp shouted, as the tears began filling her eyes. “I-It makes you evil! Don’t hurt me, please! Calm down!!”

“Wrong answer,” Small dragonet whispered coldly and smiled in a horrific way. She almost casually waved her talon at Shrimp’s long tail, which reacted immediately. Orange SeaWing watched in horror as her own tail began to slither slowly towards her throat.

_Now you will suffer for opposing me. Besides I can later order your lifeless body to tell me where you hid the scroll, you dumb lizard._

“W-what are you doing!? Saph, I beg you, come to your senses!” she shouted, as her tail began to wrap itself around her neck, despite her efforts to stop it with her talons. Then it tightened up forcefully around her throat trapping one of her orange talons in between. “THREE MOONS!!! SOMEONE HELP ME!!!”

Soon after Shrimp’s screams began to die down under the pressure that was getting stronger and stronger. Tears began to run down the orange SeaWing’s face as she was losing the unwinnable battle against her own tail, strangling her, being guided by animus magic. She was rolling on the ground, while clawing at it with her left talon, creating deep wounds in desperation, but it had no effect. Her eyes were full of fear, even bloodshot from the strangling. Suddenly the loud crack echoed through the workshop, as Shrimp opened her mouth even wider in a quiet squeal of pain. Sapphire smiled. For some reason it got much brighter in the room. But it was not important. Shrimp deserved all she was getting and that only mattered for the small dragonet.

“Saph- please...” Orange SeaWing managed to whisper weakly. “You- You are killing- me-”

_Well that’s the point! That will teach everyone not to stand in my way! Everyone will see that I’m not a small, harmless dragon!_

She walked closer to struggling SeaWing, smiling even wider. Shrimp weakly reached to her with an orange talon, with her own blood on her claws.

“M-my friend...” she whimpered. “No… p-please...”

As soon as the bloodied talon touched Sapphire’s silver front leg, she nearly jumped in place. She blinked several times, looking at her fading friend in confusion.

_Where am I!? What is happening!? Why is she hurt!? Oh no… I did that..._

She immediately canceled her spell, as Shrimp began coughing on the ground, while breathing heavily. Her tail was bleeding profusely and her right front leg was visibly broken in her forearm. She fearfully crawled away from Sapphire, leaving a bloody trail on the marble ground as she sobbed, clutching her front leg which was bent in an unnatural angle.

_Wha- What have I done!? Oh no, my poor friend… She’ll hate me now… Am I going to lose the only dragon I can trust…?_

“Shrimp, I’m sorry! I- I don’t know what got into me!” blue dragonet shouted, feeling horrible guilt, as she ran towards her sobbing friend, who looked at her fearfully, blood already running down her neck which had her own tail imprinted on it.

“But I think I know,” male voice said calmly. “You’re an animus, you poor child...”

Sapphire froze in place, as she slowly turned towards the opened door, which lit up nearly her entire workshop. Cold chill ran down her spine, as she widened her eyes from shock. Three SeaWings were standing near the entrance. Two heavily armoured royal guards already entered the workshop, pointing their richly decorated halberds menacingly at her, and behind them stood the King Gill himself, who was looking at her warily.


	11. Delta

“Delta, we need to talk seriously,” the green dragoness walked to a SeaWing who was sitting still as he watched his friend’s chest with a deep blue fin protruding from it, slowly and regularly rise and fall in a sleep that had already lasted for over an entire week. During these days he’d been near her, standing guard, barely sleeping and eating. He didn’t raise up his bloodshot eyes even when the RainWing laid her talon on his shoulder as she looked at him with great concern. Delta just continued to stare at his princess, mostly at her deep spear scar on her nearly white underscales that left a visible dent in her chest shape, another time when he failed as her protector.

_I’m a failure. It’s all my fault..._

“Would you be able to wake her up?” he mumbled, letting go of Deluge’s talon as he stood up, finally looking up at the RainWing, who had cobalt stains running through her scales, mostly on her ruff.

“Not yet, I’m currently working on the decoction that should be able to restore her consciousness, but-” Vanilla began, telling him the same information as she did multiple times already.

“But she might have a mind of a newly hatched dragonet,” Delta finished for her angrily. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Look, I’m doing all I can about her, but that’s not the reason why I’m talking to you now,” Rainwing said calmly, looking him in the eyes as she pointed with her other talon at the fish Bloodfin brought him several hours earlier, still untouched. “We need to talk about what you are doing right now. You are killing yourself.”

“You were supposed to save her, not question what I’m doing,” he snarled at her, his gills pulsing in frustration, as he swept through the air with his tail while straightening his wings. “She’s still not waking up! WHAT ARE _YOU_ EVEN DOING!?”

Vanilla relented, withdrawing her talon from his shoulder. Various patches of orange and red colour appeared all across her scales of her upper body. She straightened her crimson ruff and exposed her fangs menacingly uttering a furious hiss.

“ _Excuse me…!?_ Right after I heard about what happened to Deluge, I dropped everything I was doing to embark on a dangerous journey through half of the continent in order to help her!” She shouted resentfully. “Only to be insulted, while I’m trying to help!”

“It appears that you haven’t helped her a great deal, considering that there was no change when it comes to her state,” Delta said in sadness, drooping his snout. “She’s still unconscious.”

“What!? When I arrived your healers were already standing over her with a bone saw, preparing to cut off her leg! I stopped them and saved her limb! I did a complicated operation on her head to get rid of the blood accumulated under her skull, which your own healers haven’t noticed! That would’ve certainly killed her!” RainWing exclaimed in angry disbelief, red colour was spreading even further all across her body. “How could you say such things after all I did!? You… You nearly made me spit my venom on your face...”

“You can do that, I won’t mind,” Delta said sorrowfully, closing his eyes. “It’s all my fault why she is in such a state… Please, free me from this life that I’d have spent in constant guilt...”

Green dragon anticipated a scorching pain that would melt his face off, but it didn’t come. Instead he felt a touch of RainWing’s slender neck, gently brushing along his own. He opened his eyes to notice that Vanilla was standing beside him, twining her long, prehensive tail around his. The colors of her rage have subsided, turning into seemingly random patches of purple on her blue scales.

_Hmm… Purple was sadness or something like that? Oh, wait… Blue was sadness and purple was something else… Guilt…? Oh, Vanilla... I feel the same way..._

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that… The lack of sunlight and fresh air really drives me crazy,” she said in a wobbly tone. “It’s just so dark and unnervingly colorless down here… That really takes a toll on my sanity.”

He finally noticed how dull her colors had become. Dark caverns weren’t exactly the RainWing natural habitat. Her entire normally healthy body got horribly scrawny, with her ribs being now visible. Scales around her eyes were slightly darker than usual, indicating how badly she’s been sleeping during the last days without any access to soothing sunlight that was so important for her kind and how badly her organism reacted to such drastic change.

_I’m stupid… She’s been sacrificing a lot, just to be thanked by such an ungrateful behaviour I presented. Poor Vanilla…_

“I should be sorry, my friend...” Delta said with sadness. “You did all of this despite the war, resentment from some of our healers and your own worsening condition due to being in the darkness. I'm a horrible protector… I- I failed to stop her, then I insult you, who actually saved her… It’s all my fault...”

“No, Delta, listen. You can’t blame yourself for anything when it comes to her state. From what I’ve been told she did what she wanted and you weren’t able to do anything. And I can recount numerous times when you saved her life. You gave her blood, you caught her midair, and when we were scouring through that ancient RainWing ruined temple, you managed to push her out of the way of the spear trap, and even saved her from falling into a seemingly bottomless pit,” Vanilla spoke in a soft tone, embracing him with her wing. “Trust me, you are a good guardian, she’s still alive after being in your protection, heck ever since her and your own dragonethood! Tell me, would she want you to suffer needlessly like that because of her? Would you like to put the weight of your death or permanent damage of your health on her shoulders straight after she wakes up? Do you want to leave Bloodfin, who clearly loves you and cares about you, alone?”

Delta glanced at his beloved friend. Her breathing became regular again, as well as her scales started regaining their normal beautiful deep blue color, when compared to previous days. She was visibly getting better.

_She’s right. You know that..._

“No, but...” He began slowly. “I’m a horrible dragon, I let her-”

“Delta, stop,” RainWing swiftly interrupted him, stamping her foot on the ground in frustration. “There’s no point in feeling sorry for yourself or making self-deprecating remarks like that. Only thing you’re accomplishing by that is making yourself and everyone around you miserable. And tell me, do you at this point even care about your poor girlfriend at all? Bet you haven’t even noticed that she was coming to you each day, trying to talk and comfort you.”

“I love her, how could you even question that?” Delta exclaimed, sitting down in shock. “I- I just need to guard Deluge...”

“Uhm, right. Especially since we moved her back to her own royal tent and commander Tempest ordered five more dragons to stand guard around this very pavilion we are currently in. As if some threat to her exists here, Moons know how many meters underground...” Vanilla snarled, raising her gaze to the cloth roof above in weariness. “If I were your mate, I’d have left you ten times already. Can’t imagine the patience Bloodfin has… Somehow she managed to convince Tempest and Shore not to demote you or punish you for what you’re doing right now, for completely ignoring your duties as a soldier of the Sea Kingdom.”

“She did?” Delta asked in surprise, his eyes still fixed on his princess. “Why has nobody told me then?”

“You were too busy pondering whether Deluge would cease breathing if you stopped watching her for a second,” RainWing said as she walked towards the burning brazier near the entrance of the tent, on the outside, to warm herself up, as she was visibly shaking from coldness. “Or maybe if SkyWings, who clearly have the greatest amounts of magic among all other tribes have discovered where your princess lies, by using the powers of one of their numerous animi. Obviously.”

“Vanilla, I’m not concerned about them,” Green SeaWing spoke, getting slightly frustrated by RainWing’s sarcasm, as he lowered his voice. “I fear that our queen might want to kill her. I don’t trust any SeaWing that comes close to Deluge… She’s so vulnerable now...”

“They’re siblings. Sisters. This is family, I believe Queen Coral wouldn’t do such a thing to her. And she’s getting much better now rather miraculously. Maybe even today I will try to wake her up for a brief amount of time,” RainWing turned her blue head around to look at Delta. “Also, now that I’m her caretaker, only SeaWings that visit her are just Tempest and Shore. And of course Bloodfin. But she’s here mostly for you. I actually talked to her, when she came to me with her rather bad wound on her wing that she got in one skirmish...”

“S-She’s wounded!?” Green SeaWing exclaimed in surprise. “How!? Is this serious!? Would she fly again!?”

“Hmm… There’s still hope for you two then,” Vanilla said quietly, walking up to him. “I needed to patch her up, and I think it should heal well on it’s own, but she still had to be freed from her duties for now. And despite all of this she brought you fish, she’d caught herself. She really loves you and cares about you. It was heartbreaking to see her suspecting that you don’t return those feelings to her.”

_Three moons, I can’t lose her like that… Not after I possibly lost my little sparkle… Besides I can’t do anything more for her now… And Vanilla should be quite capable of defending Deluge for a while._

“Where is she?” Delta asked. “I need to visit her. To tell her that I still love her. Can you protect Deluge while I’d be on it?”

He stood up so fast that he felt overwhelming dizziness, nearly sitting down again. Vanilla supported him to prevent that and shook her head.

“In this state you might actually harm yourself trying to traverse the camp. Please eat and take a nap before doing that,” Rainwing spoke with care, pointing with her talon at the plate with several eyeless fish that lived in one of numerous underground streams beneath Claws of the Clouds mountain range. “It’s for your own good. You can sleep in my bedroll that is on the far end of the tent, I will guard Deluge during your rest.”

_She’s right, I need to rest…_

“You are right. I’m sorry that I behaved like that,” Delta said as RainWing led him slowly to her bedroll.

“Can’t blame you though, it was a great emotional stress for you, Delta. But I guess everyone needs to sometimes be slapped across the face with a fish in order to get back to normal,” Vanilla smiled slightly, weariness still weaved deeply into her snout, which had brighter cobalt particles running across her face. “I will bring you the food in a moment, you can lie down.”

Delta followed her suggestion and stretched out his tired bones on a soft mattress, now smelling like jungle flowers.

_Just like the rainforest itself… So many memories…_

He closed his eyes as his stomach reminded him how hungry he was, not eating for the entire six days.

“Here you go, you poor dragon,” RainWing said, laying the blue marble plate with the fish on the rocky ground near him. She smiled slightly, yellow appearing on her face, as blue colour was getting less significant. “Eat it all up or mommy RainWing won’t let you go to Bloodfin.”

“Oh, trust me I will,” Delta said, instantly swallowing the first of those weird looking fish. It tasted nothing like the normal sea ones, having a similar flavor to the rocky caverns they lived in, but at least they were really nutritious. However to the nearly starving SeaWing they tasted like the best food in the world. “You said earlier that you want to attempt to restore Deluge’s consciousness today… Could you wake me up when you’d try doing that? Or a bit earlier so I may go to the Bloodfin first?”

“Of course, decoction should take roughly ten more hours of brewing to be ready, so use it to get as much sleep as possible,” Vanilla said, smiling slightly seeing how fast Delta’s food was disappearing into his maw. “If it’d still be the same day of course, it may be tomorrow… I really lost sense of time down here… Can’t tell which hour it is.”

“Just wake me up when it’s ready, alright?” Delta said as he yawned and covered himself with a wonderfully smelling blanket. “Or if any sketchy looking SeaWings will try to get close to Deluge.”

_Those RainWing healers really know how to make an old bedroll slightly more bearable..._

“Of course, sleep well, my friend,” Vanilla said, as she glanced at him once more before returning to her alchemist table.

Delta quickly fell asleep, dreaming about his past adventures with Deluge in the RainWing domain, now being under the influence of very fragrant Vanilla’s herbs, she used to make the sleeping bag remind her of a home she greatly missed, now being stuck deep under the Sky Kingdom.


	12. Sapphire

“I- I can explain,” Small dragonet squeaked in horror, walking a step closer to a king, trying to hide Shrimp who was sobbing behind her.

“Stay back, monster!” one of the guards swung his halberd towards her throat. He missed by several millimeters. Sapphire screamed and jumped backwards, tripping and falling over on her back.

“Do you have a death wish!?” Gill’s voice echoed across the workshop. “Don’t attack her!”

_He nearly killed me… Moons, help!_

Small blue dragonet covered her eyes with her wings, trembling from fear. Suddenly a weird cold sensation spread all across her body.

_Why am I afraid? I could kill them all in a flick of my finger and nobody would know about my power… I can still keep it a secret…_

“Y-your majesty!? Do not approach it!” one of the royal guards shouted. “This _thing_ is dangerous!”

“She’s just a dragonet, and you should show some respect,” Calm and regal voice spoke. “She’s my niece after all. Also, if she’d wanted us dead, we wouldn’t be breathing anymore, so don’t push her to actually kill us.”

_But maybe I want_ _**you**_ _dead..._

Sapphire clutched her head and closed her eyes, trying to fight off the dark thoughts rampaging through her mind.

“NO!! I don’t want to hurt anyone!” a blue dragonet shouted, as she rolled on the ground, back on her feet.

“Shh... It’s alright, little one,” king said calmly, gently embracing her small body with his large green wing. “Nobody wants you to do anything like that. My guards won’t try to harm you anymore. You are safe.”

_I could kill him now… One flick of my talon..._

She let her head lean against Gill’s neck. Blue dragonet felt tears running down her cheeks as the king gently wiped them with his cloak.

_B-but I don’t want to! He is my uncle... He didn’t reject me for being an animus…_

“I-I don’t know what got into me… I- didn’t mean to...” she mumbled, her gills frilling from the stress. “Nearly kill her...”

_How can I lose control over my own mind like that… How do I maintain control over it…? I shouldn’t have cast that enchantment, without protection… But my mom could die if my spell was less potent..._

“It’s alright my darling,” he repeated, stroking her head gently. He waved his other talon at one of his guards, as she nodded and swiftly walked past them towards the sobbing Shrimp. “I don’t blame you for anything that happened here. But tell me why haven’t you told anyone about this, dear? We could’ve helped you manage your gift.”

“I- I was really afraid… I know the prince Albatross’ story and… and...” she began but sobbing interrupted her words, dousing them in sorrow. It took her awhile to calm down a bit in the king's embrace. “I-I don’t want to be forced to use my powers that will make me lose my soul!!”

“So you were afraid… Of me and the queen?” Gill said, with his face expressing thoughtfulness. Sapphire nodded and he continued. “Well we can certainly still help you with the magic...”

“NO!! Please, you can’t tell her!!” Sapphire said looking into his eyes with fear. “You were always so much nicer than her… You can’t tell her… She will make me lose my soul, maybe even do something horrible, that I’d deeply regret… And what if I’d end up like Albatross? Most of the queens exploited their animi when they got their talons on them… Please uncle, you can’t do this to me...”

_I already can feel the dark holes in my soul… That odd emptiness... If Coral would get to know about it, she’ll either execute me or force me to use my magic to achieve her own goals, ultimately leading me to my demise… There’s no good path for me to take if she would know about my magic… I’m doomed…_

“I- I’ll think about it...” Gill began, deeply committed to his thoughts. “But tell me, since when did you know about your powers? How have you managed to completely cheat on the Talons of Power ceremony? How have you concealed your inner magic?”

_Hiding that doesn’t matter anymore… And maybe if I tell him the truth he won’t tell Coral, he is a kind and compassionate dragon…_

“When I was nearly two years old, I had quite a lot of fun, trying to swim in the sea, explore the islands with Shrimp and my dad… We were nearly like a family, father, me and my servant who we really treated as a part of it. We once happened upon an island, which had old ruins on it. It’s architecture really resembled the SeaWing buildings, but the marble was really old and it looked derelict.” Sapphire spoke, looking back at her friend who was being tended to by the royal guard, as the king listened warily, still embracing her with his warm wing. “It looked… Almost as if it was a palace or a really big manor of sorts. We entered the place and started exploring. Both me, my dad and Shrimp were really surprised as this island hasn't been present on our map, despite being quite a notable place. Only a blank spot, without anything on it. We felt like explorers, scouring through this abandoned place, that once had to look majestic...”

Gill nodded and slightly moved his tail, signalling her to continue.

“But then we found a big library, with most of its contents already gone, but some were still remaining. We decided to make a camp there, and try to browse through the delicate old scrolls. We all had a night vision so there was no need of fire. We began reading various papers that contained old knowledge on various topics. Herbalism, alchemy, history, even some novels written in a really old dialect… But then when my dad went to sleep a bit, as he got really tired from flying behind us as I swam with Shrimp earlier that day, we discovered an odd scroll. It seemed to be empty at the first glance, and it looked much older than the others. When I touched it… The letters began appearing on the weathered paper, as it started regaining the texture of fresh scroll. We both watched with open mouths as the words that appeared on a paper said: “ _Welcome young Adept…_ ” Soon after other letters followed, creating an entire table of contents, and everything like that. It was an Animus how-to scroll, detailing various types of magic, useful enchantments, various measures on how to protect your own soul, as well as means to conceal your powers from other dragons, even those that know how to detect it. I tried some of the enchantments on the nearby table, and even determined what kind of animus I was. I can cast my spells using my thoughts and gestures of my legs, as well as I have natural attunement towards gems, crystals, metals and other minerals, making my enchantments on them much more potent.”

“T-That’s… Not even the royal library has this much knowledge about the animi,” King flinched in surprise. “You’ve found the long lost lore about the magic… And only by some miracle you touched a seemingly ordinary piece of scroll in a forsaken palace, haunted by the animus spirit...”

“H-haunted...? So I’m not crazy… That’d explain the strange phenomena that occurred that night… Still getting the shivers from that...” Sapphire said wobbly, staring blankly at the marble floor. “Around the late evening I and Shrimp went to explore a bit more after acquiring the scroll. We found a dilapidated overwater pavilion, nearly completely taken over by vines and other vegetation. Then we noticed... Dragons moving around in the broken mirror on the wall… We heard a harp playing a calm tune, while the distant and ghastly conversations with incomprehensive words and an otherworldly laughter echoed across the empty halls. It was really creepy, we felt as if someone was watching us all the time, when the cold wind struck us, and for a moment everything fell silent. And then the screams began… They felt… So otherworldly and distant… One of the voices was particularly horrifying, it was only hissing the words: _“Grandson. Grandson.”_ We both screamed and huddled together in horror. Suddenly everything went quiet for a few minutes so I opened my eyes, and I saw some dark shade standing over us… It… It...”

Sapphire stopped for a second, trying to get the trembling under control, as she was reminding herself of the unexplainable event that bothered her ever since.

“It had white empty eyes, and its body was in the shape of a SeaWing… Two spears were sticking out of its side and back. Shrimp passed out as it reached for me with its spectral talon. _“Great-granddaughter...? Great-great-granddaughter...? Family...”_ , it spoke out,” Sapphire mumbled. “ _”You… me… we are the same… Don’t make my mistake… Hide your power… Let nobody find it or you will end up like me…”_ the apparition spoke as it touched me. I saw numerous images of brutality and violent thoughts… Dragons dying by his enchanted objects, him strangling a seagull with his power… Growing an entire palace out of the water... Two female dragonets laughing at him, a poor small and pale dragon who played with an empty clamshell… Soon one of the dragonesses snatched it from him but then it turned around and began... biting all her claws off as she screamed and cried, while the other one was trying to stop the shell, but to no avail… This vision… It felt really weird… As if deep down I already knew about it… It’s hard to explain, but… It was somewhat familiar.” Blue dragonet said wobbly. “Then the ghost took my talons in his and spoke, hard to tell whether more surprised or angry: _“Sapphire…?”_ But then my dad ran into the pavilion, alarmed by my and Shrimp’s screams and the ghost of the Albatross had already vanished. I still have no idea how that spirit knew my name… It freaks me out to this day...”

“Essentially you’re saying that the ghost of Albatross still lurks on that island and even gave you the advice,” King said slowly, looking at her. “I can see how you were convinced of that mindset.”

“Please uncle, you can’t tell Coral about that...” Sapphire repeated, laying her head on Gill’s shoulder. “I don’t want to do something horrible like Albatross...”

“It’s all right, my dear. I won’t tell her, if that’s really the way to keep you safe,” he said hugging her strongly. “But then again, how can I be sure that you won’t lose your soul when unsupervised? That you won’t be a danger to my Coral and me? To the entire Sea Kingdom?”

Sapphire raised her golden necklace set with sapphires and pearls with her thought before the king's eyes.

“T-thank you...This necklace is enchanted to slightly restrict the strength of my spells. It acts as sort of a strong thread that prevents the pieces of my soul from being torn away from me when I enchant various objects, as it contains it,” Blue dragonet explained, calming down in the king's embrace. “That way I won’t lose myself to the power, as long as I wear it. Another way to prevent that is enchanting items wisely, wording the spells that way that they'd require the usage of magic only when needed, not constant as it requires a piece of a soul to fuel the power of the item indefinitely.”

“But aren’t all of the animus magic fueled by the soul? Aren’t even the weakest or non persistent spells still dangerous to you?” Gill asked her, watching her warily.

“To the animi without protection, yes it still takes a small part out of them, but in my case it doesn’t as those effects don’t require a lot of power, and the necklace is preventing my soul from damage, as it anchors it in my body, and the animus power itself theoretically just originates from my soul, nothing more,” Sapphire said, twining her tail around Gill’s front leg. “I know the dangers, uncle. And believe me I can contain my power.”

“You can…? I do not mean to doubt your abilities, although it bothers me what I saw just a moment ago,” Gill said carefully as he gently laid one of his talons on Sapphire’s head. “What made you like this and how do you plan to not let it happen again?”

“This… I-I just needed to enchant the necklace for my mom… It required me to place a really strong enchantment on it so I decided to… risk it,” Sapphire said, looking into the king's eyes as he shuddered slightly. “I was just so worried about her, and even had a bad feeling about her campaign… I didn’t want her to die...”

_He is still afraid of me… Can’t blame him though. I’m an unstable monster._

“Good thing that you did that… Despite some bad consequences. I assume that’s the main reason why she’s still alive,” Gill responded, standing up and withdrawing his wing. Blue dragonet untangled her slender tail from his leg. “You’re a good daughter, Sapphire. But please, you have to restrict the usage of that magic. It’s still forbidden by Queen Pearl’s decree, and trying to protect you from possible prosecution and being discovered… Might be quite hard to do, you know my wife after all...”

“Thank you, uncle… It- It really means a lot for me that you decided to trust me, regardless of me being an animus,” small hybrid responded, sitting up.

“Your majesty, that servant girl has her right talon broken, but damage to her head and neck is only superficial and she’s still really shaken,” One of Gill’s royal guards spoke,the male one, walking up to them. “Although when Trout managed to calm her down a bit, she insisted us to go for some scroll to her room.”

Sapphire turned her head around to look at her friend cradled in one of the guards’ embrace as she was talking to her calmly. Shrimp had her eyes closed, looking like a small dragonet, supported by her mother’s talons, who comforted her gently.

_Something that neither me or Shrimp ever experienced. She, left by her parents straight after hatching due to her hue… We both are really motherless, despite the fact that our mothers are still alive. At least my dad decided to adopt her, but now after I snapped and nearly murdered her, would the things between me and her will still remain the same? Would she forgive me?_

“You may go there,” Gill responded to him. “And get the healer, while on it...”

“I can heal her,” Sapphire spoke, looking up to the king and his guard, who squinted his eyes at her, strengthening the grip on his halberd.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea, dear?” the king asked carefully.

_Maybe she’ll forgive me after I’d help her..._

“Yes uncle, I’m sure,” blue dragonet said, glaring at Shrimp, the guilt weighing down on her heart heavily. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if I won’t try to help her after all I did.”

King Gill nodded, as Sapphire got up on her legs and slowly approached two SeaWings.

The guard named Trout looked up to her, drooping her wings and widening her eyes. Shrimp, feeling her reaction opened her eyes and let out a horrified whimper, cuddling up in the adult SeaWing’s embrace.

“Shrimp… I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to harm you in any way,” Sapphire said, extending her silver talon to her orange friend, but she only relented in fear, desperately trying to keep the distance from the animus. That caused her to move her broken leg, so she shrieked with pain as a result. Tears started forming in blue dragonet’s eyes again, seeing how scared of her Shrimp was. “Please, forgive me. I won’t use my magic anymore without protection. After I experienced what this power can do to me I swear I will always be careful with my powers...”

“A-always..?” Shrimp asked with a trembling voice, gritting her teeth from pain.

“Always, my friend,” Sapphire asked and gently touched orange SeaWing’s shoulder with her right silver talon. She just mildly shivered. “Will you forgive me? I can still heal you now, regardless whether you will forgive me or not. And it won’t require me to take off my protection. I just need to make things right again.”

Shrimp just nodded mildly and closed her eyes, as the guard began watching the dark blue dragonet’s talons warily. Sapphire gently touched her friend’s broken front talon and began to carefully draw on the power from her own soul.

“Hold her firmly in place,” blue dragonet said to the guard, who nodded. “It might be slightly painful for her and I need her to not move.”

Sapphire felt the magic slowly traversing to her silver talons. When enough of it accumulated there, she held onto it and gently touched Shrimp’s broken arm. She closed her eyes, feeling the crack in the bone and in her mind she imagined how it was being restored back together. She ordered the magic to empower her talons to briefly give them power of manipulating Shrimp’s body, and in answer the cold sensation spread from her front legs to her head. Sapphire commanded broken bone to snap in place and immediately meld back together. Shrimp screamed, trying to wriggle away, but the guard held her in place. Blue dragonet opened her eyes to see that her friend was clutching her right front leg with her left talon, expressing shock and still visibly trembling.

“It’s… healthy again...” she mumbled. “I-I thank you, Sapphy...”

“Now your snout, neck and tail” Sapphire said and waved her talon at Shrimp.

Wide cut on orange SeaWing’s nose and several other lacerations present on her tail as well as her blood, flowed back to her wounds as they instantly closed, while her neck lost the purple bruise that was left by her own tail. Sapphire felt the trinket on her neck slightly shudder, but it ceased after she dispersed the magic concentrated in her talons.

“Are you feeling alright?” the male voice behind her spoke nervously. “You don’t want to kill us or anything?”

“I’m fine, uncle,” She said and smiled slightly, seeing Gill’s widely opened eyes, his entire calm demeanor washing away instantly. “Just a bit cold.”

Suddenly someone jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. Sapphire panicked, but then she realised who did that. It was her friend.

“Sapphy, I can’t be angry at you anymore!!” Orange SeaWing was strongly embracing her small animus friend with her front talons and wings. “I-I just can’t! I forgive you. I’m just so worried about you and your soul, little one. That’s why I was insisting all of that on you… Because I love you and I care about you...”

“Thank you, Shrimp,” Sapphire said, trying to stand up, but it was impossible under her friend’s weight. “Can you get off me? I can’t breathe...”

“Oh right, sorry...” orange SeaWing quickly got up, and helped Sapphire to stand up as well.

“I’m really grateful for that, my friend,” Sapphire said and laid her head on Shrimp’s shoulder, closing her eyes, sliding her snout across her smooth scales. “And I love you too… Can’t imagine what I’d do to myself if I killed you...”

“Please, Sapphy, let’s leave those grim thoughts behind, I’m alive, you’re back in control of yourself, so we just need to think how to prevent that from happening again,” Shrimp said, laying her large bright orange wing on Sapphire’s back. “We all really wish the best for you, right, your majesty?”

“That is true, young SeaWing,” Gill spoke looking intensively at the blue dragonet.

_All those dragons around me… They don’t seek to exploit my powers. They are just concerned about me and their own safety, and that’s all… But at the same time I’m afraid of Coral, and my dad’s reaction to me… And what if the king, despite his best intentions, would try to put a leash on me anyway?_

“I still want to keep this entire thing secret from as many dragons as possible. We can’t really predict what’d happen if it ceased to be unknown information,” Sapphire spoke slowly, weighing words carefully. “With this entire war going on, that would put a really big target on my back for all alliances… What if someone tried to kidnap or assassinate me as a result..? Even keeping me under constant surveillance might make some dragons begin to ask questions.”

King shuddered uneasily, as if she struck his nerve.

“While what you’re saying is reasonable, I still need to somehow ensure the Kingdom’s safety as you might imagine...” he began, watching Sapphire’s silver talons nervously. “Your power could change the flow of the war entirely, and deciding not to use it is a big thing already. But leaving you without any kind of entourage, ensuring… Umm… safety of other dragons...”

“With all due respect, but do you really think that any dragon would be able to stop me if I’d have gone insane?” Sapphire sat down, under Shrimp’s wing.

“And besides, that could make her really stressed or irritated, and that was the reason she...” Orange SeaWing began, glancing briefly at her friend, with a nervous smile. “Began to be rather mean...”

“You’re right...” King nodded in defeat.

The doors to the workshop opened again and the king’s royal guard was back, holding a delicate scroll in his talons. Sapphire looked at him with surprise as she missed him leaving the room.

“Your majesty, I’ve retrieved the scroll you asked for...” he said.

“Give it to her,” Gill responded, and pointed at Sapphire with his front talon, not breaking eye contact with her, as if he tried to determine whether she’d suddenly snap and kill him on the spot, if he did otherwise.

Guard walked to her and offered her the scroll, as ordered, but not dropping his suspicious look at her, and was visibly reluctant to give up the object as he held onto it for a little too long as she tried to receive it from his talons. Sapphire snatched it with annoyance and quickly examined it, in order to see if it suffered any damage.

“Thank you for being a reasonable dragon, uncle,” Sapphire spoke, unrolling the paper cautiously. “But for now, we must bid you farewell. Shrimp, we’re leaving.”

Satisfied with the state of it, she got up and began to turn towards the exit, which was now defended by another guard, the one named Trout.

_Now, I need to exactly read about this enchantment and think whether I made any mistakes while trying to cast it… Maybe I can still help my mom… Cost may be high though… At least the king is not seeking to use my power in any nasty way..._

“Sapphire...?” Gill spoke once more. “May I ask you for a small favour, my dear?”

_Three moons, I just jinxed it, haven’t I?_

“What is it?” she turned around to look at him. The guard stood beside him, looking as if he was ready to jump at her at any moment.

“It revolves around that NightWing who arrived, as soon as princess Deluge left for the war,” he began slowly. “I will be honest. I’m concerned about her. Why should we just accept the ex-assassin from the foreign tribe, that is always plotting and trying to use any situation to their own advantage? I’m afraid that she might be up to something. I need you to just ensure that she’s not a threat to the Kingdom or my Coral.”

“So you want me to get her trust and make her spill her schemes out,” Sapphire said and sat down again. “But she knows that I don’t like her. Sudden change in my outlook of her is too suspicious. Oh, and can you imagine that she tried to even replace my own mother at one point!?”

“She was just trying to be nice to you, to show some affection and compassion,” Shrimp said, placing her talon on Sapphire’s shoulder. “And that was it...”

“But as you can see Shrimp likes her,” Gill spoke carefully. “And Starsight possibly trusts her more.”

“Don’t get her into this mess, uncle,” Sapphire responded, leaning against orange SeaWing’s side.

“I don’t want to,” the king said, laying his talon on hers, as the first dots began to connect with each other in Sapphire’s mind.

“I think I know what you mean now...” Sapphire said, slowly scratching her head with her wing claw.


	13. Firestorm

Red-gold dragonet shrieked in pain as young IceWing was trying to put a soothing salve on her once frostbitten leg. She opened her eyes again, looking at the pine forest that surrounded their small clearing, close to the river, where Albacore decided to make a camp.

“I’m so sorry, Firestorm...” Solstice began, looking at her with sadness. “I can’t do this as effectively as Albacore...”

“J-just leave it alone...” she spoke, breathing heavily. “He’ll be back soon, right?”

“Yes, but I’m still worried for him...” IceWing responded, lying down near the already sitting SkyWing. “He went to deal with the criminals after all…”

Firestorm looked down at her left foot. Her scales there were completely black down there, even exposing her sickly looking flesh in some places. Her toes looked absolutely stiff, one of them even seemed to be broken. The sight of her leg made her breakfast, consisting of fish Albacore caught earlier, nearly return to her throat. She swallowed it however, and Solstice seeing that quickly grabbed her snout directing her sight to himself.

“It-It looks so bad…” she whispered, slightly trembling on the thought of such a thing happening. “Am-am I going to lose my leg?”

“Firestorm, Albacore will do everything in his power to prevent that,” Solstice said, but avoided eye contact with her.

“But if he won’t return?” she looked up to him with her chin shuddering.

Solstice got up and sat down beside her embracing her with his remaining wing. She leaned against him, being now used to his cold scales.

“He will return. I’m sure of it. He is a really strong and well armed dragon,” he said in a reassuring tone, but she could tell that he wasn’t believing that entirely.

“How could I even walk on three legs… I… I don’t want to lose my foot… It’s terrifying...” Firestorm spoke, closing her eyes in an attempt not to break into tears again. “I already lost the ability to grab anything with my front left talon… Why do such horrible things keep happening to me..?”

“You are not the only one suffering, my friend,” Solstice spoke softly. “I lost my wing after all…”

_He’s right… I should stop being so squeamish, like him… But that’s still so horrifying… If only Snowy was with me… That wouldn’t even happen… I should’ve tried to convince Albacore and Solstice to go to the SeaWing encampment where he is right now. They could retrieve that magical stone and we would all be fine by this point..._

She closed her eyes in despair and felt the IceWing front talons hugging her gently.

“But don’t worry Firestorm… No matter what happens we will find my mother and she will take care of us and even help you overcome your possible disability,” Solstice whispered into her ear. “She lost her leg in the dragonflame explosion, trying to save someone she shouldn’t by our IceWing rules...”

_So I will lose my leg… Unbelievable how he is still having hope after all of that happened and we haven’t even left the Sky Kingdom, barely moving out from the battlefield because my leg gotten worse and worse, forcing Albacore to contact the criminal underground of Highvalley in a desperate attempt to bribe them to heal me somehow… Or at least do the clean… amputation… But maybe there's a future for me if other things won’t turn out so bad..._

“Do you think she will accept me? If we will even reach her somehow?” Firestorm asked.

“Yes. She is a really caring dragon. No matter the tribe,” he said in a hopeful tone. “She saved a SeaWing the day she lost her leg, several years before the war, so I assume she will be really nice to you as well. Can you imagine, my friend? We could become a family!”

“You truly give me hope in this dark hour, Solstice,” Firestorm said, with her voice moved by his heartwarming words. “I… I’m really grateful for that.”

“Would you accept if she offered to adopt you?” IceWing asked her.

_How does it even feel to have a parent? A dragon who cares and loves me? A dragon who will always be there for me to support me when I’m in need? It has to be a truly amazing feeling..._

“I- I would have a parent for the first time in my life...” she mumbled, thinking about how amazing it could be. “An adult dragon who would love me… No matter what’d happen. In what world could I refuse such thing?”

“I’m really happy to hear that, my friend,” he spoke softly.

Huddled together, they heard wingbeats, getting louder and louder with each passing second. Solstice quickly got up and warily stood between the source of the noises and Firestorm. Suddenly the familiar heavily armored dragon emerged from behind the trees that obstructed their view. He was accompanied by eight SkyWings. All of them looked rugged, some having rather unpleasantly looking golden earrings or scales dyed in pitch black colors in order to resemble various intimidating symbols like knives or skulls. IceWing dragonet slightly staggered, retreating several steps back to sit down beside Firestorm as the arrivals landed.

“So that’s her, right?” one of the SkyWings asked Albacore. She was a large, red and visibly strong dragon, having a golden ring in her nose as well as an eyepatch covering her left eye and horrible scar, streaking through the side of her snout. Firestorm looked down at her underscales that were having a pale orange hue and numerous scars, some hinting that she survived multiple fights. Firestorm slightly flinched, seeing that claws from her left talon were replaced by longer, steel blades.

“Yes, her leg has gotten much worse two days ago, and as I said before, I’ll pay more if you save her foot,” SeaWing responded, reaching to a pouch that was hanging from his side and drawing fistfull of emeralds. “Fifty emeralds if you at least… Umm… Ease her pain, and ten additional for each claw you save, will throw additional thirty if you manage to preserve everything.”

“Seventy five. Judging by how it looks like one of the claws is already completely gone,” she said coldly, squinting her eyes at IceWing dragonet who drooped his snout, staring blankly at his own talons. “You need to make it more attractive to convince us into risking our scales.”

“How do you think we will travel through this continent then?” Albacore asked the SkyWing again. “She’s just a dragonet after all… Please Magma… I need to purchase some supplies along the way for both of them. Sixty.”

“You can always kill off the IceWing. Or maybe we should call him now just Ice.” SkyWing's leader continued to bargain in an unflinching tone, as her dragons laughed at Solstice. “That useless worm will just slow you down. At this point it will be a mercy kill. And I can drop the price to seventy, for her being an actual dragonet.”

“Hmm...” Albacore began to think loudly. “Let me… Just let me talk to them for a little before.”

Magma nodded as Firestorm quickly glanced at her friend. His beautiful blue eyes were looking down at the grass, as they began to glitter with tears. She tried to move towards him to comfort and embrace him, but she accidentally supported her weight on her dying leg. Red gold dragonet shrieked with pain, while Albacore walked to her and looked into her eyes with compassion.

“Stay strong, poor baby… And if they would harm you or mistreat you in any way, tell me. We will be waiting for your return here, and make every bad deed against you be rightfully punished, I swear,” SeaWing softly whispered to her, gently grabbing her chin with his talon. “I don’t want to leave you with those brutes, but I have no choice, I can’t conceal myself well enough there and I can’t leave Solstice alone.”

Firestorm looked up to the SeaWing, who looked visibly worried by the entire situation.

_He risked his life for me, by contacting them… He took care of me and Solstice… He feeds us and protects us… What if he’s the parental figure I dreamed of ever since my hatching?_

“And Solstice, I won’t do such thing to you, do you understand? I and Firestorm value you greatly, and don’t let the words from that thug make you think otherwise.” Albacore said, turning to face him.

IceWing dragonet nodded, swallowing his tears as he wiped them with his forearm.

“Seventy and I’m not dropping the price more, since the subject apparently wants to damage herself, making our job harder,” Adult SkyWing spoke again. “Besides, how did she exactly get her frostbite?”

“She was a dragonet soldier in one of your _queen’s_ armies,” Albacore said to her, anger filled his voice this time. “How do you think...”

“I did that to her...” Solstice interrupted, breaking the agreement he made with Firestorm. “It-It was an accident...”

“What!?” Adult SeaWing flinched in surprise, looking at him with shock.

“Oh, your precious IceWing is not so sweet anymore?” Leader of the thugs laughed with contempt.

Albacore was glaring at the poor IceWing dragonet, who curled up into a coil, not being able to withstand his sight.

“Are you paying..?” Magma asked, uneasily clanking her metal claws against the rock she was standing on. “Half of the initial price now, the rest when we will return her. Pay to Raven, that golden jewelry hanger.”

“Alright… Let me count my gems,” SeaWing began to count the emeralds on his talon, continuously shaking his head in disbelief, while Magma jumped down and walked closer to the dragonets, her metal claws making unpleasant noises anytime she took a step.

“What is your name, _young lady_?” she asked the red gold dragonet with mock courtesy.

“F-firestorm,” she responded, slightly shivering as the dragoness was getting closer.

“Oh, don’t be so scared of me, you’d have to endure me for the next two weeks at least, after all!” Adult SkyWing loudly laughed, getting in front of her face. “But please tell me Firestorm, from which unit do you originate?”

Red gold dragonet felt her sulphur smelling breath, slightly relenting. She looked down at Solstice who was still cowering on the ground beside her.

“Q-queen’s children… T-thirty first squadron...” she mumbled, not being able to look away from Magma’s scar that disappeared below her black eyepatch. It was made out of dragon scales.

As soon as she uttered those words, Magma’s steel talon scratched across the stone with such an unnerving creak, that Firestorm covered her ears with her talons, even utilising the numb one. The adult’s SkyWing’s expression got even harsher, which was quite surprising, considering how harsh looking she already was.

“D-did I say something wrong?” Firestorm asked with a trembling voice.

“Actually, quite the opposite. It’s rather _amusing_ ,” Magma said slowly as she lowered her voice, looking deep into her eyes. “And that SeaWing. From what unit is he?”

Magma moved her steel claw closer to Firestorm’s tail.

“H-heralds of the Tide, but...” red dragonet mumbled, watching as Magma withdrew her talon.

“Shh, that’s all information I need now,” Adult SkyWing interrupted, walking away to her underlings, waving her talon at them. “We are taking her away now, SeaWing.”

“Now..?” Albacore abruptly stopped counting the gemstones, looking at Magma suspiciously.

“We want to begin to heal her as soon as possible, to maximise our chances to save her foot, right?” SkyWing said, walking up to him. “And I changed my mind, I want to receive the gems.”

Two sky dragons walked to Firestorm and unceremoniously picked her up, taking off from the ground in an instant. They lifted her several meters above the rest of the dragons. Solstice raised his head, reaching with his talon longingly towards her.

_We didn’t even say goodbye to each other…_

“Thirty five emeralds, here,” Albacore said, extending his right talon full of gems to Magma.

Suddenly the SkyWing leader jabbed her talon towards the SeaWing’s front leg that was holding the payment. Firestorm widened her eyes in fear as she noticed that Magma’s steel claws were going straight through Albacore’s palm. He screamed in pain, as SkyWing retracted her claws and walked a few steps backwards. SeaWing fell over, clutching his talon that was bleeding profusely, as the emeralds landed everywhere around him on the forest floor.

“Knock him out, and take him to our hideout and of course kill that IceWing spawn,” Magma said calmly, shaking off the blood from her blades. She turned around and flew away, to observe everything from above.

“NOO!!!” Firestorm shrieked, trying to wriggle away from her captors but they were too strong, making her efforts fruitless. “Solstice, run!!”

IceWing dragonet closed his eyes seeing the two SkyWings quickly walking to him. He curled up into a ball, trying to somehow sink into the ground, trembling from fear. She quickly glanced to the groaning Albacore, who was being cornered by three sky dragons. Solstice was forcefully grabbed by two dragons, who exposed his throat, while one of them reached out towards it. Firestorm couldn’t bear this any longer. She closed her eyes tightly, as the sickening sound of claws tearing apart the flesh, along with horrible gurgling, and a body falling over made her sick. She vomited from the entire stress and covered her eyes with her front legs, not wanting to open them again to see what had become of her IceWing friend.

_They killed him… They murdered Solstice…_

She heard a roar, and another body landed on the forest floor with a loud thump. She opened her eyes, uncovering them, as one of the dragons holding her let go of her lower body, while the other was still holding her by her torso, close to his chest, while her back legs and tail were flailing freely above the trees. Albacore was standing over two motionless SkyWings, while Solstice was trembling and squealing from fear. She breathed out in relief, although she realised that they and even she was still in danger. SeaWing was clutching his halberd in his left front talon, even holding it in his all bloody right one, still trying to weakly hold his heavy weapon, supporting his entire weight on it as if it was a cane. He squinted his eyes at four SkyWings that surrounded him from all sides, his sides pulsing as he breathed heavily.

_He is wounded… Even if he normally would be able to take them all out, now it’s nigh impossible._

Albacore glanced behind himself at the whimpering IceWing dragonet and then looked up to red gold dragonet, with despair in his eyes. Behind him, just twenty meters further the river was flowing calmly, despite the drama that occurred nearby.

_He knows that he can’t save us both… Don’t leave me here… Daddy..._

“I’m sorry… BREATHE IN!!” he said, looking into her eyes and threw his halberd at one of the SkyWings, who roared, dodging his weapon while the other three lunged towards him, even Magma joined them, trying to cut him off from the water. Firestorm breathed out the oxygen, she inhaled with hope.

He quickly grabbed the Solstice in his talons, who quietly yelped, not being able to react paralysed from fear, and took off, flying swiftly towards the river. SkyWing leader tried to claw him with her long talons, but Albacore completely shrugged it off, ramming into her, knocking her off from his path. She fell over roaring furiously as the rest of the chasing dragons passed her from above trying to catch up to fleeing SeaWing and IceWing. They used their firebreath on them, as they were just several meters from the water. Fire of the SkyWings nearly caught up to them as they both plunged into the depths of the river, disappearing below the surface. The dragon that held Firestorm slowly descended with her, approaching his leader carefully.

_They left me..._

“NO!!!!” Magma shrieked, burying her snout in her right claw sorrowfully.

Two SkyWings landed near her, while the rest of them tried to see if their fallen friends were still alive.

“Are you okay, Magma?” one of them asked her.

“He escaped!” she shouted at his face. “That’s what matters!”

“Don’t worry, we will find _him_...” another SkyWing said calmly, laying his talon on her shoulder. “And besides he has IceWing with him, he needs to emerge to the surface somewhere...”

“Have you never seen SeaWing in water? We can’t cover all of his possible places where he can surface again. He is gone,” Magma said in frustration.“All those years… And the opportunity just slipped out of my talons again!!”

“Don’t you dare lose hope now, we still got _her_ ,” the first of the dragons spoke, pointing at Firestorm. “She may at least give us in the right direction.”

Magma looked at her. She had tears in her eye. Red dragonet was baffled.

_How in the moons she went from dangerous brute to sad, poor dragoness in mere seconds!?_

It didn’t make any sense to her.

“Take her to our hideout for now,” the SkyWing leader said, looking blankly at her steel talon. “But be careful about her leg, she doesn’t deserve any more suffering. Now go, fly! I will join you later.”

Another SkyWing soared up to her and carefully grabbed Firestorm’s tail and back legs, lifting her and then gently placing her on the back of the dragon who was holding her before. He turned his head around to look at her with compassion, his rough, scarred face suddenly losing a lot of it’s harshness. He ascended slowly trying to make the flight as smooth as possible. Too many questions began to hatch in the red dragonet’s head. All of the events from this day seemed to be so unreal. She yawned, being tired of weird happenings of this day, not even sure how she should react, sudden weariness overwhelming her.

_Maybe I’m just dreaming..? I will just go to sleep, and everything will be back to normal._

Firestorm quickly fell into the chaotic slumber, dreaming of Albacore, Solstice and her brother, Snowflare. However something seemed to be rather odd when it came to her brother… She felt deep down as if he was in danger… Not safe with SeaWing princess… But being somewhere else, in a much more sinister place…


	14. Delta

Delta woke up from his sleep abruptly, being surprised by a horrible scream of pain. He rolled on the ground from his sleeping roll, to avoid any potential attack, instinctively reaching for his halberd, which was lying nearby, within his talon’s reach. Using his momentum, he got up and turned around, his eyes immediately turning towards his princess on high alert, his guard up. Deluge was still sleeping calmly in her bed, her breath seeming to be stable. He looked for the source of the sound. It was Vanilla who was standing above the SeaWing, who was violently shivering on the ground, while screaming from pain. Five dragons busted out from the tent entrance, and swiftly after noticing the situation they began to surround the RainWing pointing their weapons at her. Delta’s heart sank when he recognised the wounded dragon who was laying on the ground. It was Bloodfin.

“No, no, you can’t die!” Vanilla shouted, her scales turning green from previous red, as she poured the water from the bucket on Delta’s mate. “By the Moons, NO!!!”

Delta swiftly dropped his weapon and ran to his girlfriend's side, pushing one of the guards aside. His stomach jumped when he looked at Bloodfin’s face… Her scales were nearly gone from near her eyes and snout, close to being completely melted off, her eyes not even being present anymore. The horrible stench of the smoke rising from her burned eye sockets made him sick. He froze in place watching her scream like that. Vanilla turned around and jumped in place, seeing him, turning her scale color into a pale green. Bloodfin in the meantime, was getting weaker and weaker, some of the venom flooded her throat, her screams changing into a haunting gurgling.

“Delta I-I’m sorry...” Rainwing said with a trembling voice. “She-she surprised me, and I overreacted… S-She acted so odd…Accused me that... I-I… Had an affair with you… S-since you were in my bedroll… I… just...”

She couldn’t endure his blank stare anymore. She covered her eyes with her front talons, drooping her snout, as the last signs of life were dying down from Bloodfin.

_She did that… RainWing venom causes wounds such as these… She killed my poor Bloodfin…_

Delta felt as if something died within him. The sudden emptiness overwhelmed him. He wanted to scream, roar, cry, claw at the RainWing, but somehow he couldn’t. He looked around, to see the faces of his fellow SeaWings. They were shocked, some of them surely knew that Bloodfin was his girlfriend, expressing sadness and compassion, others were looking at Vanilla with pure hatred.

He glanced down at the dragon he loved, lying motionlessly, her face completely stiff, frozen in a scream of pain, her jaws nearly glued together by her melted scales. Delta walked to the side of her, and picked up her right talon, and hugged it lovingly.

“Delta..?” one of the SeaWings began, but he didn’t care.

_First Deluge, then Bloodfin… Could this world be more cruel!?_

He wanted to weep, but the emptiness in his soul didn’t let him. He felt grief of such magnitude that paralysed his emotions completely. The horrible feeling of detachment from reality, as he looked down at Bloodfin’s empty eye sockets… He didn’t feel like himself anymore. He closed his eyes. The void that surrounded him appeared to be soothing, welcoming. He still heard muffled voices of the SeaWings, but it didn't bother him too much. Delta wanted to let the darkness embrace him, to take him away from this cruel world that just took his beloved Bloodfin.

“DELTA!!” The sudden scream tore him away from his lethargic state. “THAT’S NOT HER!!”

He looked down at the talon he was holding. It was completely pitch black. The dead dragoness wasn’t Bloodfin. The dragon that was lying beneath his talons was a NightWing. He relented in shock as he let go of her black talon, dropping a ring that bounced off the rocky ground. He reached out to grab the fallen jewelry piece from the cave floor, and instinctively put it on on his front talon. Very strange feeling spread across his entire body from the enchanted trinket, slightly changing the shape of his entire body, as well as his scales smoothened, switching the colour from dark green to bright blue with his fins and wings receiving a blood red hue. His snout narrowed and lengthened, his horns slightly getting longer. After the transformation was finished, he looked down at his own reflection in the spilled water. Delta’s face and entire body was not his own, gaining Bloodfin’s feminime features. It took him a while to understand what happened and where he is. He looked down at the NightWing’s corpse. He reached out to the satchel, hanging from her side, emptying it’s contents on the ground below. Several metal discs, two daggers and various vials containing suspicious substances fell on the ground. He immediately knew what it meant.

_She was not only an impersonator but also an assassin, here to kill princess Deluge, Vanilla and maybe even my precious Delta… Wait… What had just happened!? I’m Delta!_

“Delta..?” one of the SeaWings began. “Bloodfin..?”

“Umm… Yeah..?” He spoke carefully in a voice that was not his own.

“Are you Bloodfin or Delta?” The dark blue SeaWing named Wave asked, looking at the transformed dragon.

“I… Don’t know...” Delta said in Bloodfin’s voice, trying to slow down the thoughts racing through his mind. “It’s… Very confusing...”

Delta felt as if the mind was not his own, being somehow changed into Bloodfin’s. All of the SeaWings in the tent looked puzzled while Vanilla was trying to comprehend what just happened, her mouth widely opened. Delta knew he shouldn’t be roaming through his mate’s mind, but he couldn’t resist the urge. He began thinking about… Himself. Almost instantly his mind erupted with vivid emotions and memories of him meeting her the first time, when she almost instantly fell in love, seeing his altitude and character and how intelligently he took her hints that she’s interested in him… Their blissful dates, when she was able to forget about her family that hated her for going after her dreams to become a soldier instead trying the safer and boring life of a merchant, continuing her family traditions… How thanks to him she was being reassured that what she does is completely fine, and her family can go eat a squid for trying to enforce what her life would look like… But then came the later part of their relationship, when she was thrown out of her family home, and had to ask him would he take her into his, to which he immediately agreed… Although at the same time she was getting suspicious of his relations with princess Deluge, he assured her that he indeed loves her, but like a sister, and said that she’s not able to give him as much as Bloodfin, so that’s why he will never leave her for his lifelong friend. In addition he told her that he and Deluge both agreed to keep their relationship platonic, as she is already happily married and has dragonet with that NightWing. But despite all of this, Bloodfin felt as if he was giving her just… not enough attention, even before the princess was wounded. Because of that she felt horrible, some part of her wanting him to care for her more, while at the same time she felt really selfish even for thinking that. She hated the idea of herself being an obstruction in their extremely strong bond. But then, when Deluge got nearly killed, all of his concern went to his princess…

The crippling sadness nearly made her shed a tear.

_It was alright at the beginning, but when he did it to such an extent that he even wasn’t acknowledging my existence anymore… I began feeling completely alone, abandoned… Despite all I did for him… He didn’t even look at me even once! I tried to talk to him, hug him, but any attempts of me comforting him just ended in him wriggling away, ignoring me or plainly telling me to go away… And when that RainWing finally arrived he began talking again, but was only asking for Deluge’s health all the time..._

She sat down, twining her tail around her back legs, as she covered her face with her red wings.

_If I got hurt like that would he even care!? After I got wounded rather badly two days ago, and he didn’t even react to me, hissing from pain, heck only Vanilla saw that and offered me some help and changed the bandages for her own, better ones… Stranger, being more concerned about me than my own partner… A dragon with which I dreamed to have dragonets at some point, but now I don’t think he would even weep for me… If I died…_

That thought was so horrible, that deep inside Delta’s soul, the new flame of love… And understanding lit up, pushing back the darkness that was eating into his own mind. He returned to his own thoughts, not being able to continue into Bloodfin’s chaotic mind, which was full of sorrow.

_I need to come back to her… I need to prove her that she’s wrong about me. How I could make her think like that..?_

Then he looked back at dead NightWing, which brought him back to the attempt on Deluge’s life.

_Wait… If someone was impersonating Bloodfin already… The assassins won’t risk the possibility of her walking up to her doppelganger… Three moons it means that she’s still in danger!!!_

Alarmed, he quickly glanced at the dragons that kept staring at him, expressing visible concern about his sudden changes both in appearance and mood.

“What are you waiting for? Deluge was nearly assassinated and other possible killers are still in our camp!!” he shouted in Bloodfin’s voice. “Put the entire camp on high alert, NightWings have impersonators that could look like your best friends and who act like them! Now, two of you, Wave, Spearfish! Wave, you are going to warn Lieutenant Tempest and Shore while Spearfish will run to Bloodfin to check whether she’s safe!! Go!!!”

They looked at Delta, slightly conflicted as Bloodfin had no authority to order such action, but when he growled at them, they changed their mind, rushing out of the tent.

“Vanilla and the rest, you will defend princess Deluge, while I’ll be gone for a moment,” he ordered the remaining dragons. “I need to check on the original Bloodfin.”

Vanilla looked rather shaken, glaring at the NightWing corpse from time to time, still traumatised by what she’s done.

_Hmm… Possibly her first kill ever, judging by how peaceful RainWings are… And she’s a healer, sworn not to hurt other dragons… Poor Vanilla, can’t imagine what she’s going through now..._

“Bloodfin?” SeaWing named Halibut asked, as he walked to the side of Deluge’s bed.

Delta instinctively turned around to face him.

“You should better take off that ring,” Halibut started, carefully picking words. “I mean… I would be pretty disturbed if my exact copy would rush into my own tent, especially during sleeping hours.”

“Oh right, good call,” Delta said, taking off the ring and placing it into his own satchel that he had on himself at all times. The weird tingling began shaking his entire body, as his scales changed their color back to his dark green and got more roughed up, his snout coming back to his normal proportions. He looked down at his water reflection, making sure everything was back in its place, and after that he immediately rushed out of the royal tent. He quickly left the smaller cave reserved for Deluge and her closest dragons, going into a tunnel leading into the main, large cavern where most SeaWings resided, including his beloved Bloodfin. Several heavily armored dragons passed him in a narrow passageway, going to protect Deluge, led by Tempest, who nodded at him as she ran past Delta.

_Deluge is now safe. Three moons, please, let me reach Bloodfin in time…_

He busted out of the tunnel exit to the huge cavern, that still had no signs of high alert. However he noticed that more guards than usual were patrolling the quiet rows of tents. Seemingly looking like normal sentries but they were warily looking into all barrels and possible hiding spots.

_Smart move. Shore decided to keep the high alert state a little bit more quiet in order not to spook potential assassins..._

He took off and quickly flew towards the tents that soldiers from Deluge’s company placed. Nearly thirty rather large and comfortable tents were present in that corner of the cavern, all of them allowing the dragons inside to stand up on their hind legs and outstretch their wings without any issue if they desired to do so. He quickly looked around for a red blue tent, nearly always being in the corner a little bit further. And there it was in the same place he had remembered it to be. He dove down, landing near it as Spearfish’s blue snout appeared in the entrance of the tent.

“She’s not here anymore,” he said. “There were no signs of any struggle though, so she had to leave on her own accord. Still, I have no idea where she might be...”

“Let’s go inside and maybe we will find some kind of hint,” Delta responded nervously.

Spearfish let Delta inside Bloodfin’s tent, and true to his words there was nothing that’d suggest that anything out of ordinary had happened. Her bedroll was still laid on the pile of straw, making the rocky ground slightly more bearable. Her black armor and weapons were carefully placed on a nearby rack, perfectly polished and ready to be worn again. Her small mirror made out of polished silver was still placed on her small table, she assembled two weeks ago, shortly after they arrived at the cavern, along with several jewelry pieces he gifted her earlier. Other than that he noticed a small number of clothing she brought from Sea Kingdom to wear, just for him. Especially that ribbon she twined around her tail… It always made her look so gorgeous… But then he noticed that her scale oil was gone. She was always using it after her bathing, since it made her scales very smooth and shiny.

_She has to be in that hot spring we’ve found… By the moons… If someone killed her there, nobody besides me would be able to find her body... Nobody would ever find out that someone replaced my beloved Bloodfin… And even if she wouldn’t be killed and if that NightWing piece of trash succeeded she’d frame my Bloodfin… She theoretically has a motive to kill Deluge, if she was crazily jealous, so it could be assumed by everyone that she did so... She could be executed by our own dragons…_

_Would I believe that she killed Deluge? Would I try to kill her myself if she raised a talon against my lifelong friend?_

He stopped for a second, briefly closing his eyes. He didn’t want to know the answers to those questions.

“I know where she is,” Delta spoke, turning around to the exit of Bloodfin’s tent. “Follow me!”

Delta and Spearfish busted out of the tent’s entrance and they quickly took off heading towards the far corner of the main cavern where the small underground ravine was present. Two SeaWings swiftly dove down into the pit, passing a waterfall that was flowing into it. They plunged straight into the lake that had a small tunnel underneath leading to his and Bloodfin’s secret place. Delta swam as fast as he could, letting himself be taken by the current, ignoring some of the sharper rocks scratching against his scales. He surfaced when he saw familiar looking blue glowing mushrooms that covered the walls of the cave through which their small underground river was flowing, indicating that he arrived at his destination. Spearfish’s head appeared near him, as he did the same.

“Where to now?” he asked.

Delta pointed with his talon at the nearby tunnel in the wall of the cave that they found themselves in. It was mildly lit up by the glowing mushrooms, however they haven’t been growing inside of the tunnel leaving it in darkness. The entire cavern was rather moist, sounds of flowing water were echoing in their ears.

“Here, this passage leads directly to the place where I believe she should be,” Delta responded as he got out of the water, shaking it off himself. “Stay vigilant, there might be trouble ahead.”

“Understood,” Spearfish nodded, as his halberd’s blade flashed in the light of the mushrooms.

_Should’ve brought my weapon as well…_

Delta swiftly walked into the tight passageway, as his eyes began to get used to the new environment, nearly completely deprived of light. He lowered his body, trying to keep as low profile as possible while he entered the main cavern, with their hot spring. He sensed Spearfish, crouching near him. He began glancing over several pools, looking for his beloved Bloodfin. Delta’s heart sank as he saw the SeaWing body lying motionlessly in one of them, leaned against the edge of it, her head lying on the cave floor. He screamed in despair, and began running towards her. He stopped immediately as she jumped in the water, splashing it everywhere, also shrieking from shock and instantly opening her eyes to look at him.

“Three moons, what the…!?” Bloodfin shouted, visibly frightened. “Delta?”

“My love!” he cried back as he ran towards his beloved SeaWing.

He swiftly jumped into warm water and hugged her lovingly. She was still breathing quickly, but calmed down in his embrace. Spearfish in the meantime began to look around the cave. Bloodfin looked surprised, but in turn she hugged him back with her wings, allowing him to lean against her neck. He felt her smooth scales as he moved his snout across them. Their soothing touch was exactly what he needed now. He didn’t want to let her go. Not after what happened shortly before.

“I.. I thought I lost you, darling,” he said. “I won't make you feel abandoned ever again, do you understand?”

“Uhh, alright, but… What happened?” she asked, visibly surprised. “I mean, you just suddenly ran to me after an entire week of completely...”

“I know, I’m sorry, that will never happen again,” he said, still not letting go of her body. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Delta,” she responded, closing her eyes as she gently brushed her snout against his. After that she opened her eyes again, lowering her voice to a whisper. “But what is he doing here? I thought it was our secret place?”

Her noticing Spearfish brought him back to the current dangerous situation.

“You’re in danger, my love. Someone tried to impersonate you in order to assassinate Deluge,” he spoke with sadness, as she shuddered. “They wanted to frame or kill you, but fortunately Vanilla was there, slaying the assassin. Not the first nor the last time someone underestimates the RainWings...”

“But how they...” she began.

“Animus-touched ring. Someone, somehow seen you earlier, replicating how you look like, how do you act… Even your memories were included there,” Delta said, avoiding her eyes. “I have to admit… I tested the ring myself. But I did it before I knew that I would receive the same mind as you!”

“So… You know...” she said with sadness, looking away. “About my family… How violent they were after I decided to go after my dreams… And after I accidentally let my younger, prettier sister die to sharks… They became so abusive after that, always making remarks about my ugly fins and how I won’t find any dragon that will at least make me worth something… How close I was to ending myself before I met you...”

Delta widened his eyes. He never realised that, since she never wanted to talk with him about her family. It also explained why she was rather jumpy around his parents as well, being used to such horrific dragons.

“I wasn’t going so deep into your memories...” he said quietly. “But I haven’t realised what your family was...”

“You remember when I came to you with black eye, various scratches on my neck and broken leg?” she whispered grimly. “Let’s say the current didn’t throw me against a coral reef that day.”

“Why haven’t you told me about any of this?” Delta said, feeling anger at those abusive dragons. “I would’ve gone there myself and made them regret what they’ve done to you with my talons and fangs…”

She just quietly murmured and closed her eyes.

“I love you Bloodfin, and nothing will ever change that,” he spoke lovingly, brushing her snout with his nose.

“Nothing?” she asked quietly while she began staring blankly at the wall. “Then what about the fact that they once hurt me so badly that… That I won’t be able to have any dragonets in the future?”

Delta slightly relented in shock as Bloodfin began crying.

“The mother told me that day that since they have no daughter anymore, it's just the right thing for them to not have any grandchildren too. That… That it was just better that way as no dragon deserves to be as _defective_ as me… That happened when they got to know about my dates with you...” she sobbed. “I- I was so afraid to tell you about this… I was so scared of the possibility of you leaving me because of that… I’m far too ugly for you… And now I can’t even feel like a dragoness anymore… But now I guess I deserved that if you left me now...”

_So that’s why she was always so affectionate to all dragonets… She knew that she won’t ever be a mother and that’s why she was seeking these kinds of situations to briefly sate her own desire she won’t be ever able to fulfill..._

Delta felt pure rage and hatred, seething inside him. Bloodfin saw that and completely broke into tears, covering her eyes with her front talons.

_If I will ever see her family again… Her mother… They are dead dragons… I swear that by my own honor…_

“Bloodfin, look at me,” he said firmly. She looked up to him, with her eyes full of tears, her chin shivering from sorrow. “You are the most beautiful dragoness I ever saw. And nothing, nobody will change that. Not even your evil parents. And I don’t care about the dragonets. I love you, it doesn't matter whether you can lay eggs or not.”

“But… It matters to me...” she whispered quietly.

She placed her snout on his shoulder, as he gently stroked her neck, still embracing her strongly. She was slowly calming down in his arms. Delta couldn’t tell whether minutes or hours had passed. Only thing that currently mattered for him was that he is with the dragon he dearly loves.

“I… Thank you Delta,” she spoke in a trembling voice. “I didn’t deserve all of this kindness from you...”

“You deserve all of it, my love,” Delta whispered into her ear, gently kissing her. “If you told me earlier about your family… That could’ve ended so much more differently...”

“B-but I was so afraid… And embarrassed about it… Especially when I saw your own happy family, I just… Didn’t want you to think worse of me because of how horrible they were...” she spoke with sadness, drooping her snout. “I always loved the idea of you thinking that my parents are so nice, just as yours… In some really weird way my own delusion made me hope that my family still may change… Be like your mother and father… But when they hurt me… I just needed to run off my family home...”

“Oh, Bloodfin… At this point we already trusted each other so much…” Delta said. “But despite your actions being unreasonable, the motive behind them still can be understood. You are my most beloved dragon, and don’t you ever forget that.”

She embraced him with her warm blood red wings. Suddenly something hissing landed on the rocky ledge near them. He looked towards the odd sound. It was some weird mountain plant with thorns which was also slightly sparking. Then realisation hit him.

_Three moons… A dragonflame cactus…_

“GET DOWN!!” he shrieked as he pulled himself and Bloodfin underwater, covering her body with his.

They heard a loud explosion and soon various small thorns and needles fell into the water, losing all of their deadly velocity, harmlessly bouncing off their scales. Delta instantly surfaced, jumping out of it. He landed on really hot rocks that were heated up by explosion. Spearfish was whimpering from pain, being thrown into one of the pools by the dragonflame. Delta began thinking quickly.

_Assassin is still here. And he wants to kill us. They had other ranged weapons, so I need to keep a low profile. Hmm… I should pretend that I’m running towards the Spearfish, leaving Bloodfin alone…_

He quickly proceeded to run towards the SeaWing soldier and in the most unexpected moment he decided to turn around, briefly glancing at his surroundings. And there it was, a shade moved, trying to maneuver between the rocks on the other corner of the cave. Assassin tried to get closer to Bloodfin, just as something metallic hit the stone wall behind Delta. He quickly ducked behind the rock, trying to protect himself from other projectiles.

_I’m going to surprise that sneaky bastard._

Bloodfin surfaced her head and looked at him. He quickly signalled her to dive back into the water. He proceeded to crouch towards the next rock, getting even closer to Bloodfin as she hid underwater again. Delta tried to quickly glance over his cover, but assassin was not stupid. As his head appeared over the rock, another metal disc followed, this time hitting it’s mark. Delta felt as something bounced off his neck and a rather warm liquid began to flow from the place where it struck. He fell over, yelping from pain.

“Delta!” Bloodfin shouted from the water, emerging above the surface as another disc was sent towards her, but screaming she dove underwater again.

Suddenly he heard talons moving across the rocky ground. Someone was running towards the water. Delta got up as fast as possible and began running towards the Bloodfin as well. When he was just near the pool, the dark shade was standing above the water, trying to throw something into it. Delta roared in fury as he turned around and using all of his strength as well as his momentum, he slammed his tail against the assassin with an unnerving _Crack!_ , which threw the unknown dragon at the stalagmite, breaking it entirely. The NightWing began shrieking from pain as Delta roared furiously again, running towards her. The assassin was a completely dark scaled dragonet… Something around seven years old. The remnants of the vial containing some dangerous corrosive acid were laying all around her. He could tell that it was dangerous since the places on her wings where the liquid touched her were just smoking holes. He growled angrily and dragged her by her tail across the glass remains, making her scream even louder as he wanted to avoid the dangerous substance himself. He threw her against the rock closer to the Bloodfin’s pool, while she shrieked from pain.

_That little algae eater tried to burn my Bloodfin in the water..._

He approached the sobbing NightWing assassin and caught her by her throat. Now he finally noticed the full extent of the damage his strong tail dealt. Her right arm was completely dislocated, being bent backwards, while both of her front legs suffered two severe open fractures, the bones sticking out of her arms, her ribs receiving a dent in them, some of them possibly broken as well.

“Who are you!?” Delta shouted at her face. “Why have you tried to kill my Bloodfin!?”

The NightWing completely ignored his question, shrieking on top of her lungs, only taking breaks when she sobbed from pain. He brutally took her chin into his talons, forcing her to look at him.

“I ASKED A QUESTION,” he hissed angrily, shaking her head, as she stopped screaming, trying to contain her pain by whimpering. “Answer it or you will start losing your teeth.”

He turned around briefly, hearing two SeaWings approaching him. Spearfish’s tail had a small burn and several needles in it, and Bloodfin looked surprised, seeing NightWing dragonet.

“D-Don’t hurt me, p-please,” she mumbled, trembling from fear and pain. “I- I’ll tell you everything...”

“Do you really think that after you attempted to kill all three of us and another one of your kind tried to assassinate our princess, I will just let you go?” Delta snarled angrily. “You aren’t very bright are you?”

“Delta, she’s just...” Bloodfin began.

“She’s a trained killer,” Delta turned around to look at her. “I think that removes her dragonet innocence.”

Bloodfin looked down at the ground, visibly uneasy with the entire situation. She couldn’t bear the sight of suffering NightWing. Delta wanted to hug his beloved, to tell her that it is for the greater good, but he wanted to deal with that horrible dragonet as soon as possible. In addition he didn’t want to lose an intimidating impression. He shook NightWing’s head again.

“Now, who are you!? Why have you tried to kill us!?” he shouted into her face, as she relented in terror.

“I-I’m Blackout,” she mumbled. “W-where’s my mom?”

Delta angrily hissed getting closer to her.

“I’m asking questions, not you,” he said in a quiet, intimidating tone. “And that was your mother, trying to assassinate our princess?”

Scared NightWing nodded weakly. He mustered a fake smile at her, feeling hatred towards both of those black dragons who tried to take both Bloodfin and Deluge away from him.

_Now I wonder how you’d react to that, you small piece of garbage..._

“Well, let's say that she managed to get rather close to princess Deluge, and was at mercy of our RainWing healer. You know, _very_ peaceful dragons and all that,” he said to her, as the sparks of hope lit up in her eyes. “Ah, yes… Very peaceful… However the RainWings, can get a little bit nervous underground… And because of that she got a little less, peaceful… She used her venom, melting your mother’s eyes off… She was screaming loud and long before she died.”

Blackout started shrieking and crying in despair as Bloodfin caught Delta by his shoulder, which made him turn to her. She had tears in her eyes.

“Delta, I can’t handle this any longer, please stop,” she said with sadness. “Nobody deserves to be treated like that.”

“But… She wanted to kill you! This thing tried to hurt you in that pool, pouring corrosive acid into it!” Delta cried at her, in disbelief. “She deserves everything I do to her!”

“I was her target. And that’s why I should be the one who decides her fate,” Bloodfin said walking closer to the NightWing.

“My love, but I’m just doing it...” he started, as she made him let go of NightWing’s throat who was still sobbing mournfully. “For you...”

“Then let me show her mercy. I can’t watch her suffering like that,” Bloodfin said, brushing her wings across his own. “Can you do it for me?”

Delta reluctantly let her tend to the Blackout. She gently removed all weapons that were strapped on dragonet’s bandolier, including several more discs and couple of knives. After that she began whispering calm words to the dragonet, trying to comfort her. She began gently stroking her head with her talon and soon enough the only noises that were heard in the cave besides nearby water stream was Blackout’s accelerated breathing, and her silent whispers to Bloodfin. Delta in the meantime felt an odd stiffness in his neck.

_How can she even forgive the assassin for trying to kill her so fast!?_

“We need to take her into the camp,” Bloodfin said. “She’s willing to tell us everything she knows, only wants us to give her mother a proper burial and she wants us to not hurt her any further.”

Delta looked at the Spearfish who had an expression of disbelief on his face.

“Our healers have enough beds, we should heal her chemical burns and her broken bones,” Bloodfin said to them, carefully examining NightWing’s broken front legs. “Spearfish, can you go bring two healers to her? Maybe even Vanilla? And a stretcher to not harm her anymore? And of course the Jade of Waterbreathing?”

Spearfish looked at Delta with a questioning look in his eyes, who reluctantly nodded. SeaWing soldier disappeared into the tunnel shortly after.

“I’m doing this only for you, my love,” Delta spoke, embracing Bloodfin as he looked over her shoulder to glance at the NightWing dragonet. Their eyes met. He frowned at her, exposing his teeth dangerously, still seething inside from hatred. She was still frightened of him, trying to hide behind Bloodfin, breathing heavily from pain and fear.

_I despise you and all that you stand for, you small, poisonous snake! If it depended on me you’d be already dead._

Suddenly, the weird dizziness began to overwhelm him.

“Delta, you’re wounded as well,” Bloodfin said quietly, gently touching his neck, where the disc struck him. “Does this hurt?”

“Not with you nearby, love,” he said weakly, while an odd shortness of breath forced him to stop briefly. His gills started to move, futilely trying to catch air that he began to lack. His legs got incredibly weak, Bloodfin had to hold him to prevent him from falling over.

_The NightWing’s weapons were poisoned… After my adrenaline levels dropped after the combat, my blood flow returned to normal, allowing toxin to spread in my body..._

“Are you all right, my love?” Bloodfin asked him, visibly frightened.

“P-poison… S-she poisoned me...” Delta managed to wheeze, before he started coughing up the blood.

“Delta!! NO!!!” Bloodfin shrieked in horror. Still holding him, she turned around to the NightWing dragonet. “Antidote, you have it!?”

Delta’s eyes began to tear up as he looked at the dragoness he loved. She was frantically screaming at the Blackout in the words that stopped being recognisable to him.

_She always looks so beautiful… Even when she’s so worried..._

_I love you, darling..._

With that thought in his mind his consciousness slipped into a blissful void.


	15. Silentskies

The “princess’ NightWing” looked at the rough sea, as the large waves were flooding the sandy beach below the vine concealed small marble balcony he was currently standing on. He’s been going through a lot of stress lately, after two dragons who mattered the most got severely incapacitated.

_First, my poor daughter gets into a random coma, next I get the message that my wife is nearly killed roughly at the same time as Sapphire gets her weird stroke that led to her state. There’s certainly some kind of magic involved… Even though I can’t prove it I just have a feeling something is not natural in play here… Those two events seem to be too much tied with each other to be a coincidence. Her pain appeared roughly at the same spots where Deluge got wounded too…_

He sat down and scratched his head, looking down at the tropical trees that were bending under the wind that preceded the incoming storm.

_I’m sure I’m missing something… I searched her rooms with Shrimp and Starsight, tested her for presence of magic, but nothing out of ordinary happened… What if someone from the outside cursed Deluge and my poor baby..? Queen Battlewinner has at least one animus under her command that I know of, so that wouldn’t be outside of the realm of possibility… But at the same time if she wanted to commit an animus into the matter, she could just order it to enchant some kind of weapon to track Deluge and kill her that way… It makes no sense..._

“Brother?” a voice spoke from behind him. “You should come back inside, a harsh storm is approaching.”

Silentskies sighed and heeding Starsight’s advice came back into his study. It was not a huge room, however it contained all he needed - a small desk and several cabinets and scroll shelves where he stored his documents, blueprints, notes and several scrolls that he borrowed from the royal library that picked his interest. Now he placed a number of notes that contained plans he hatched with his sister about keeping Deluge safe, along with some others including dead leads that he disproved regarding Sapphire’s condition. Of course, she was fine now, but it remained unresolved. Silentskies hated unexplained occurrences, and as a former spy he believed that everything that happens has a cause, no matter whether it is a political intrigue or health of his beloved daughter. He couldn’t rely on simple coincidence or randomness, not when it came to his little Sapphire’s safety. He closed the door behind himself and sat down in front of his desk, that was being lit by the fireplace that Starsight just set on fire, on his right side.

“So, are they going to escort Deluge back here or not?” she asked him, as he threw a stack of papers into the fire.

“No. Too dangerous and it has too much risk in compromising their operation in Sky Kingdom.” Silentskies hissed angrily. “At least that was what Shark said.”

“So, besides what I proposed, what are our options?” she asked and looked at the remaining notes over his shoulder.

“Before she got wounded I sent her a letter straight after she left with a warning about the assassins, she just shrugged it off with: ‘Then let them come.’ In another letter that I sent I tried to reason with her by saying that since someone wants her out of the picture that might put me and most importantly Sapphire in danger. To this she responded with an official document signed by her that authorised me to manage the garrison of her island during her absence. Of course I already made first moves to make them more useful and vigilant, but...”

“NightWing assassins are still really dangerous, and if you’re hoping those SeaWings and SandWings to stop the more experienced ones, you will be really disappointed,” Starsight said, looking at the drawing of the layout of Deluge’s palace. She pointed at the main hall plans with her talon. “There, the left third corridor remains unprotected for the entire three minutes, enough for potential assassins to traverse here, behind the pillar, still remaining invisible.”

“I just brought those plans from watch captain. And as you can see, they are really flawed...” Silentskies said. “Can you outline the new routes for the guard patrols in order to make them cover much more space? I can’t think of a dragon who would be more qualified in countering assassins than you, a former one.”

“Sure, but how much dragons do we have at our disposal, what is their training and equipment?” Starsight asked him and sat down beside him.

“Fifty SeaWing royal guards and fifteen SandWing Duneclaws, courtesy of Queen Blister,” He said, but seeing the questioning look in his sister’s eyes he added: “Duneclaws are essentially the heavily armored honor guard.”

“Not that, but _Queen_ Blister?” Starsight said, raising her brow. “Didn’t know that you think about her that way...”

“Oh, this… Well, let’s say that I got used to keeping my head on my shoulders, you know?” Silentskies responded. “Especially since walls have ears, so be wary of what you’re saying.”

Starsight hissed, but nodded in acknowledgement.

“Give me those plans and I will try to make use of those soldiers…” she said. “Maybe even prepare them to face NightWing assassins, if you let me. As for you, make some antidotes for the sentries. They will need them, since we actually use a lot of poisons when completing our assignments. You know, antidotes for paralysing Obsidian Snakeberry, lethal Corrupt Sanguinary, Dark Oleander or Suffocating Dragonbane.”

Silentskies whistled in surprise.

_Nasty poisons. Corrupt Sanguinary - long and painful death caused by severe internal hemorrhage, almost splitting internal organs open, Dark Oleander - poison slowly lulling even strongest dragons to sleep from which they won’t wake up ever again, Suffocating Dragonbane - essence taken from a dangerous red flowers, attacking victim’s respiratory tract, making them unable to breathe and ultimately leading them to suffocate._

“Hmm… Moons... There’s nothing that can revert the damage from Corrupt Sanguinary… Nothing except magic and long hospitalisation. Horrible poison…” He said thoughtfully. “I’d have to employ the help of SeaWing alchemists, but that’s not a big deal, I worked with them earlier, giving them NightWing knowledge about alchemy, while they taught me theirs.”

“You- You sold our secrets to them..?” Starsight asked him, relenting.

“Sold is a bad word I’d say. I’d prefer that I got _convinced_ by a certain SeaWing and she allowed me to _see_ the better way of living, instead of clinging on to a drowning tribe,” Silentskies said, and looked into Starsight’s violet eyes harshly. “You’d be better off if you’d finally accept that.”

“But.. We are the NightWings...” she said, drooping her wings.

“Starsight. Population of our tribe is dwindling everyday and you know it. Barely any dragonets are getting hatched in our volcano, while numerous dragons die, to a toxic volcanic fumes, sudden lava outbursts or just starving to death,” Silentskies responded. “None of the other Kingdoms would even consider us as a force to be reckoned with anymore, maybe except RainWings who disbanded their last army ten years ago. Only chance of our survival is to migrate into other tribe’s territory with some kind of official agreement. Sometimes a little bit of humility is the best choice. Since I already have a somewhat established position here, I could act as Battlewinner’s ambassador, but after what she’s done to you...”

“Queen Battlewinner nor the NightWings wouldn’t ever agree to allow our tribe to live as some kind of lowlife refugees!” Starsight interrupted, hissing angrily.

“Ancient pride won’t feed the dragonets, nor make the volcano more habitable,” Silentskies said quietly. “Realistic approach to the situation is the only way the NightWing tribe could be saved. Battlewinner needs to stop living in delusion and shadows of the past. I already talked with princess Greatness about this, who agreed with me, but she can’t do anything as long as Battlewinner is the queen. But maybe with some support from the SeaWings we could change the NightWing queen to a more agreeable one, for the good of our tribe.”

“Is this the reason why have you married princess Deluge in the first place?” she asked him, looking into his eyes in disgust. “So your love both to her and your daughter is not true?”

“Three moons, no!” he shouted. “I mean… I planned to get into her good graces as soon as I arrived at the Sea Kingdom. When I saved her from the scavengers that was the opportunity I exploited. I carried her back to my small cave, took out a scavenger spear that was dug deep into her chest and began healing her. I already knew that she didn’t have any kind of prejudice against other tribes, so I revealed my true form to her after she woke up, after being unconscious from her severe injuries for two days. At the beginning I was considering keeping her as a hostage to enforce some kind of treaty on the SeaWings… But then… She was so genuine and grateful that I just couldn’t exploit her like that. During the process of me nursing her back to health we just fell in love with each other.”

“Have you told her about it though?” Starsight asked him, still maintaining her piercing gaze. “Your initial motive?”

“Well… Yes. It caused a big crysis in our relationship. She wanted me to leave and don’t show up ever again. She even dragged me into her speech in front of the SeaWing court and the queen, denying everything that happened between us. It was horrible and humiliating,” Silentskies responded in sadness. “But then… Something that reminded us about our love happened…”

_I still remember that moment as if it happened yesterday… When she suddenly started staggering and nearly fell over, but I held her, gently laying her on the floor and… She began breathing heavily while clutching her underbelly._

_“S-so… It’s possible for us to have dragonets..? I-I feel them wanting to go out… ” she whispered. “I-i’m so sorry for all that I said… And all that I didn’t... Don’t leave me, I-i’m scared…”_

_“Of course it is, silly… Never heard about hybrids? I will stay with you, don’t be afraid,” I responded. “I can’t leave you alone with our babies, right? Just stay calm, doctors are on the way...”_

_“But… They’re coming out n-now...” Deluge hissed through gritted teeth._

“What exactly?” Starsight asked, making him come back to reality.

“She laid our eggs… That event got us closer together and gave us strength to ignore everyone who was looking down at our relationship… Even our small squabbles didn’t matter anymore, not when her eggs turned out to be really small and looked rather sickly. All healers doubted their survival, but Deluge didn’t want to believe them and decided to always keep the eggs near her, providing them her own warmth for most of the time, rejecting the Royal Hatchery. She wanted to be aware of every change that can weigh on their survival, so she kept them close. She of course sometimes gave them to me as she was still actively training her soldiers as she: “couldn’t allow their martial prowess to decline”... And then several months later our one male and one female egg hatched,” Silentskies said quietly, twining tail around his back legs with a silent sound of scales rustling against the marble floor. “However it was not entirely a happy event as we expected. Sapphire… She didn’t have enough strength to breach her eggshell, being so tired after the effort that she straight up went to sleep in Deluge’s arms after we got her out. Our son in the meantime… He didn’t even put out any effort to get out. After we helped him we realised why.”

“You had a son..?” Starsight carefully said, placing her talon on his shoulder.

Silentskies stopped for a while, gulping loudly.

“He had no hind legs and was completely blind. He looked truly miserable when I picked him up. His scales were blue but… Not beautiful SeaWing blue, it was something like rotten or sickly blue. He was trembling from the cold. I tried to give him to Deluge to hold, but she looked… Horrified. She initially rejected him…” Silentskies sighed in sadness. “I tried to warm him up in my embrace, but I think that he felt what his mother thought of him and began to cry. Poor baby was so small that he and his sister could both fit in my talon.”

“What happened to him..?” Starsight asked with care. “I mean… If this pains you too much you don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s fine… His tiny, sensitive heart wasn’t able to endure Deluge’s reaction. He just mumbled: “Dwaddy..”, before he got a violent heart attack,” NightWing whispered sorrowfully. “Despite the efforts of me and SeaWing healers, he passed away shortly after, his tiny talons clutching my finger to the last second… Deluge tried to bring him back as well, hugging him and apologising desperately through her tears, but it was already too late. Our dragonet died on our talons, being alive for only several minutes. Imagine naming your little baby after his death... We named him Dusk...”

“By the moons, I’m so sorry,” Starsight gently embraced him with her starry right wing. “Parents should never put their dragonets to the eternal rest… It’s just wrong.”

“I already watched one of my babies die… It was the worst day of my life, but it made me love Sapphire so much more than I ever would if the world wouldn’t prove me the vulnerability of my dragonets… I even adopted Shrimp as my second dragonet, to fill the void in my heart reserved for my poor little son that we failed to welcome into this world... It was my way of accepting the loss of my baby, by always being here, for them,” Silentskies said and began crumpling a piece of paper in his talons. “Deluge at this point had a really hard time to cope with her loss though. Through her pain and guilt she started persuading herself and everyone around her that her son died in the egg, while often trying to escape me when confronted about it. She began avoiding me and Sapphire altogether when I tried to talk with her about it, living in her depressed state for nearly an entire year, trying to turn her attention away from her unresolved grief that she couldn’t come to terms with. When the Sea Kingdom got drawn into the war her escapism got even more worse, as she was leaving me and Sapphire alone for months, while we were both terribly worried for her at all times.”

“But she promised to come back as soon as this campaign will be at its end,” Starsight noted. “Maybe she finally overcame her own...”

“Do you think that was her first time she promised something like that? No, my dear,” Silentskies interrupted. “If she would come back to her health, she will go to another campaign as she already did multiple times.”

“But if she won’t be healthy anymore? There’s your chance if she, let’s say, lost her leg or something that’d make her incapable of fighting anymore. I think I can stage a horrible accident, even in my state...” Starsight said carefully, as her brother widened his eyes looking up to her. “Won’t be that difficult on sleeping dragoness.”

Cold chill ran down Silentskies’ spine as he noticed the cold calculation in her eyes. She was capable of harming Deluge like that. This thought disturbed him horribly. Where was the small Starsight with her beautiful eyes that looked like a night sky, innocent and young just as he remembered her?

_Of course I know she’s an assassin now, but seeing her thinking like that… She changed so much since I last met her..._

“Now I need you to look at the situation realistically, do you want her back or not?” Starsight continued. “But of course that’s just my opinion, to make her lose just one leg and keep the rest, instead of...”

“Sister, by the Moons, NO!!” Silentskies exclaimed with shock. “I will not let you maim my wife like that!”

“But theoretically...” she began.

“Starsight, if you’d mention harming my Deluge or Sapphire ever again, I will become really unpleasant.” Silentskies cut her out. “We… We will wait for the events to unfold when it comes to my wife. There’s still hope that Coral will send her back home, due to her condition. Now let’s focus on my little Sapphire.”

“Ah yes, your sweet little gemling that absolutely hates me,” Starsight snorted out. “Can’t she understand that I’m not trying to replace her non existent mother?”

“She’s just missing her mom, that’s all… Would you really blame her for that?” Silentskies asked. “It explains why she’s acting like that.”

“Grr… Fine. I wanted to be friendly to her, and she just started hissing at me...” Starsight said, slightly frowning. “But alright, what have you established when it comes to her?”

“Still nothing. I think she’s hiding something from me although I can’t quite put my finger on it. I believe there’s some magic involved somewhere, but I’m nearly certain she’s not an animus, so I think she possesses something magical… Or in fact something may be possessing her and that scares me...” Silentskies said, looking for a certain scroll in his small scroll holder placed on his desk. “That’s why I decided to contact the professionals. Here.”

He extended his talon holding a marked scroll. It was an old excerpt from the treaty documenting registered factions in Sky Kingdom, dating from hundreds of years before Scarlet’s reign. Starsight took the scroll from him and carefully unrolled it and relented in surprise.

“Order of the Unending Flame!? But… Moons..” she gasped, abruptly dropping the paper on the desk. “They’re fanatics! Please tell me that you haven’t tried to contact them yet, if they are still existing.”

“I’m desperate, Starsight. My trusted messenger located their contact which was oddly at the same meeting place that was listed on that document and gave her my letter about my suspicions about my daughter,” Silentskies said, laying his talon on her shoulder. “Maybe some of their methods throughout history were a little bit unorthodox, but for a good reason. They were dealing with animus scum after all, and if something magical has an influence on my poor baby’s state I want them to deal with it as soon as possible. They haven't responded yet though.”

“If you really believe that this is the best way...” Starsight said reluctantly.

The relatively quiet moment of unspoken thoughts was interrupted by SeaWing who busted out of the door, leading to the main hall of the palace. He was completely soaked, water dripping from his entire body, as he tried to catch breath with his sides trembling and foam emerging from his mouth. Starsight already had a dagger in her talon, but stood down seeing a dragon familiar to her.

“Friend… Deluge... ” he managed to speak through his heavy breaths before coughing took over him. Silentskies quickly walked to him and gently seated him on the cushion that was laying on the ground nearby. Starsight already poured the water from the jug that was placed nearby to the green goblet.

“You were after a long journey. Breathe and drink before you deliver your message, my friend,” Silentskies said calmly, as the SeaWing nodded thankfully, drinking the entire content of the goblet Starsight held. “Is everything alright? You haven’t been wounded?”

“No, I’m fine… But Princess Deluge...” A SeaWing messenger named Marlin spoke weakly. “Assassins...”

Silentskies’ eyes widened and met with frowning Starsight’s glance. He looked down at the SeaWing and slightly nudged him with his talon.

“Assasins what!?” he shouted a little bit louder and higher than he intended.

“Deluge got nearly assassinated… Killer got into her tent and was stopped by her RainWing healer...” Marlin managed to speak before Starsight gave him even more water to drink. He thankfully nodded again and proceeded to drink the entire content of it again, regaining his breath. “They were two NightWings, mother and daughter… They… They had an animus touched ring that allowed one of them to shapeshift into a mate of Delta… She was named Bloodfin if I recall correctly… They planned to replace her or something, as far as I know...”

NightWing’s eyes widened even further as he looked at Starsight who wrinkled her snout.

_So Battlewinner already committed animus into taking out Deluge… Moons…_

“Do you know more? How did they look, or if the assassins revealed anything?” Silentskies asked anxiously. “Names, affiliations, anything?”

“Only dragonet survived. The adult NightWing got killed by the RainWing who used her venom. I don’t think I’d look at the RainWings the same ever again...” Marlin said. “The dragonet tried to kill Bloodfin and was stopped by Delta, who in turn got poisoned. Healers were still fighting for his life and Vanilla was brewing something in a hurry before I left.”

“Hmph… But have you remembered any names?” Starsight asked him thoughtfully. “Oh, and believe me I’m no longer affiliated with them, so you can speak freely.”

“The dragonet… She was named Blackout,” SeaWing said, receiving even more water from the Starsight and this time not drinking it not entirely. “Poor thing. When they captured her she had two of her legs broken and was carried on a stretcher. They took her straight to the interrogation, but allowed the healers to patch her up during that. She revealed that she and her mother were dispatched among others to take out important commanders from the winning alliance… Which is our alliance. Their queen intended to prolong the war, moons know why. Since they failed she warned us that there will be more coming, but this time they may not strike her again directly. NightWing assassins are known for their ability to create chaos in their wake, so they may seek another way to derail our war efforts… That was what she said, before healers got too impatient and ordered everyone to leave.”

“You made us a great service, Marlin, now if that’s everything, please go to the second empty guest room, rest and later my servants will bring you some food,” Silenskies said calmly and dismissed the SeaWing who bowed gratefully and swiftly left the study.

“Battlewinner makes her first move...” Starsight said, sighing in sadness. “What he said was true. I remember Blackout. Poor girl, that was her first assignment… She was always so scared of the job that she was given by her birthright, being bred specifically for that.”

She sat down and gently touched her own belly.

“You won’t be forced to become an assassin, my baby,” She quietly spoke, stroking the place where her egg was present. “You will choose your own path, and I will do everything in my power to support you, wherever it will lead you.”

Silentskies gently placed his talon on her shoulder.

“I’m sure you will be a good mother to your dragonet,” He spoke softly. “How long until you will lay it?”

“SeaWing from the Dragonet Care said three weeks, give or take four days,” Starsight said and stood up again. “But let’s get back to our main topic. Marlin spoke the truth when it comes to the methods of our assassins. Only a mad or suicidal dragon would try to strike Deluge again, after the SeaWings at the camp are already on high alert, their vigilance possibly doubled or tripled… No. They will strike elsewhere.”

“Hm.. And since Deluge is going to be awakened very soon, and if she would be still capable of waging the war...” Silentskies said, as Starsight nodded. He already expected what she’d say next.

“They will strike where it will hurt her the most,” Starsight said grimly. “Which means at you, Sapphire and possibly even me, exploiting the opportunity.”

They both brushed their wings against each other, and sat down in front of the half transparent doors leading to the concealed balcony, twining their tails together. They worriedly looked outside. The storm already started swaying vines to and from, making them dance chaotically, almost reflecting both Starsight’s and even Silentskies’ uncertainty of the future events to come, both asking themselves the question that haven’t been spoken out loud. Would they remain or be tossed away by the storm?


	16. Firestorm

Red gold dragonet woke up from her slumber and yawned loudly. One adult SkyWing that was huddled near the wall, hearing her voice immediately got up and walked out of the chamber they were in, closing the door behind himself. She was carefully covered by a warm blanket and laid on a soft mattress that was placed in some sort of a small room made out of stone. Small fire was crackling on a fireplace that was lighting up the entire chamber as, judging by the lack of sunlight coming from outside through the window covered by the red curtain, it was already after dark.

_Where am I? Have they already tended to my leg..?_

She carefully sat up on her bed and with trembling talons uncovered herself from the blanket, until she saw the bandage wrapped around her left hind leg, starting just below her knee. She breathed in and swiftly threw the blanket off her body. She widened her eyes as she reached with her healthy talon to touch her own foot that was still present under the dressing. To her surprise she felt her own touch, and that her foot wasn’t stiff or anything, in other words it felt… Healthy again.

_Am I dreaming!?_

Her happiness dwindled however when she moved her talon across her toes, bandages bent under her touch... Her foot was alive again, but it cost her two of her digits.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to save your foot entirely, Firestorm, despite the fact we used a special IceWing trinket to deal with your injury,” a voice spoke from the entrance to the chamber.

Red gold dragonet looked up to the source of the voice. Magma and another SkyWing were standing in the door. She removed her metal claws and eyepatch, leaving her left front talon clawless and her ripped left eyelid exposed. Firestorm slightly gagged when she noticed through Magma’s shredded scales that it was only covering an empty eye socket. Noticing her reaction adult SkyWing smiled slightly and walked near her bed as another sky dragon closed the door, leaving them alone.

“Hope I’m not looking too horrifying,” she snorted out as small plumes of smoke emerged from her nostrils, and she laid beside her bed.

“N-no, you look, um… Very, uhh... fine,” Firestorm managed to mumble, still not being able to look away from whatever remained from Magma’s left eye.

“Heh, you act as if you never saw a maimed dragon in your life, which is impossible if you truly were a dragonet soldier,” Magma noted, wrinkling her snout dangerously as even more smoke emerged from her nostrils. “Perhaps you lied to me after all…”

“N-no, I told you the truth,” Firestorm said fearfully, as Magma got closer, snorting her smoke at the dragonet. “I saw a lot of harmed dragons, it’s just… I never got used to them that’s all...”

“So injured dragons disgust you?” Magma asked, easing her expression and slightly withdrawing. “Should I put on my eyepatch?”

“No, I… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you in any way,” Firestorm said, drooping her snout. “It’s just always shocking to me. To see all those dragons like that just makes me sad. I feel bad for their injuries, when I imagine what they have to go through each day of their life… I saw dragons with missing legs, wings… It always terrified me when I tried to put myself in their scales...”

“I still have the second eye,” Magma noted. “But I guess I’m not as pretty as I once was...”

“Not only that… It also horrified me, since most of these wounds were inflicted by other dragons...” Firestorm said as she looked up to adult SkyWings remaining golden eye. “How cruel dragons can be to others… To leave them scarred forever like that… It scares me to see what dragons are capable of doing to each other...”

Magma looked at the moonlight peering through the small gap in curtains.

“Do you wish to know how I lost my eye?” She asked quietly and looked back at the red gold dragonet.

Firestorm hesitantly nodded.

“I’m one of the Queen’s experts in espionage… And once I turned my blind eye on the possible scheme against Scarlet, as the dragon who was plotting was my niece,” Magma sighed. “When the Queen found out she called me over and in front of her nobility she just scratched out my eye, because: ‘If I decided to overlook certain things having two eyes is redundant...’.”

To her own surprise Firestorm felt pity for Magma. Despite the fact she tried to kill Solstice and wounded Albacore.

“Your leg is not hurting anymore?” Adult SkyWing asked her softly.

“It feels fine now,” dragonet responded. “But, where am I? Where’s Albacore? Why did you want Solstice dead?”

“You’re in Highvalley, possibly the northernmost city in the entire Sky Kingdom, being closest to the Ice Kingdom,” Magma responded and pointed at the map hanging above Firestorm’s bed. “And as for your SeaWing and IceWing… I needed your sea dragon, because he might’ve held information about a certain dragonet who was in your squadron. And IceWing was just supposed to be a mercy kill. Nobody deserves to suffer their entire life, being completely unable to fly...”

“But he wanted to live!” Firestorm protested. “I could’ve flown with him when I grew bigger!”

“You really cared about the IceWing who froze your leg?” Magma said, raising her brows.

“That was an accident, and he was a really nice dragon,” dragonet responded, looking up to Magma. “I just liked him very much...”

“Oh, please. Marriage and dragonets when?” she snorted out and feigned a scornful laughter.

Firestorm looked downwards when her cheeks felt as if they were set on fire.

“I mean… It’s very unnatural to think like that about the dragon from another tribe, especially the IceWing,” Magma said, slightly softening her voice. “Maybe SandWings are not that bad, but the ice dragons are just ugly, cold and haughty and not really worth your time, young lady… You’d be better off with a SkyWing in my opinion.”

“I never asked you for your opinion on the matter. I like him and you won’t change that,” Firestorm hissed angrily, looking into the SkyWing’s eye defiantly. “Besides, the most impolite, ignorant and arrogant dragons I met were actually the SkyWings. Albacore and Solstice were the kindest dragons to me in my entire life, not counting my brother.”

“Oh really? I wonder how you two lovebirds are planning to even touch each other...” Magma said, smirking at her. “Ice and fire is not mixing up well.”

“Or maybe that’s why we can complement each other,” Firestorm noted, seething from anger. “He is my friend, and one day I will take him to the skies.”

“If you’d ever meet him again that is,” Magma said and looked into dragonet’s eyes. She was expressing… Sympathy? “I really doubt the SeaWing’s pure intentions. I met numerous cases of dragon or even dragonet trafficking during the wartime. A lot of times when a dragon goes missing during the wartime, he or she just gets written out as a casualty by the officials. There’s no investigation, no investment to look for a missing expendable soldier, even more so if said soldier was a dragonet. For the most despicable dragons it is a simple and fast way to gain a lot of money...”

“N-no! Albacore was a good and kind dragon!” Firestorm shouted, as the doubt of that statement hatched in her head.

“But are you sure? Think about it: Wouldn’t it be a good opportunity for him to do this and desert from his army, being set for his life?” Magma snorted out. “Maybe I actually saved you...”

“NO!” Red-gold dragonet shrieked, as the tears blurred her vision. “D-don’t talk about him like that!! Albacore is a good dragon!!!”

_But is he? What if what she’s saying is true..? Solstice could be sold in some underground market and I’d never see him again… NO!! THAT’S NOT TRUE!!! THIS COULDN’T BE TRUE!!!_

“Hey, I’m sorry… Maybe that’s not true, I was just thinking loudly,” Magma said as she gently laid her clawless talon on the dragonet's shoulder. “Maybe I’m mistaken, but trust me, young lady, I saw enough in my life to doubt the morality of strangers.”

“He cannot be bad… He cared about us… He fed us… And even told us stories about the Sea Kingdom and his family before we were going to sleep,” Firestorm said through her tears. “He always curled around us when we slept to provide us both shelter and warmth… Even Solstice liked that… Albacore couldn’t be a bad dragon...”

“Then maybe I was truly mistaken about him...” Magma said, as she moved her clawless talon and gently grasped dragonet’s cheek. “Tell you what, I’m going to order my dragons to find him and I will bring you back to him, if you truly believe that he is good willed. And I will even let you go, unscathed after all of it. But I’m only going to do that if you’d help me, young lady.”

“But how could I even help you?” Firestorm asked as she wiped tears from her face with her numb talon. “I’m just a crippled and weak dragonet...”

“But you may possess some information about a certain dragon. An albino dragon. Not fireless, white scales, red eyes, rather beaten up during his service to the Sky Kingdom,” Magma said, scanning Firestorm’s face warily as she flinched and looked away from adult SkyWing.

_She wants to know about Snowy? But why? Three moons, if Scarlet’s agent knows about his power then it’d be a disaster both to him and unthinkable amounts of dragons..._

“It appears that you know about him, judging by your reaction,” Magma raised her brow above her missing eye. “Thing is, he disappeared shortly after the battle with the SeaWings during which they kidnapped prince Thunderhead. Where did you see him the last time? Is he still alive?”

_She_ _**has**_ _to know something… Otherwise why would she care about Snowy? Wouldn’t the queen’s spy try to get some knowledge about the prince's whereabouts instead? Is Snowflare more important than Scarlet’s oldest son?_

“I- I knew him,” Firestorm said. “And he’s still alive...”

“Where is he!?” Magma said in a much higher and louder voice, her eye widening. “I mean, I need you to tell me as much as you can. Otherwise Scarlet will take my second eye… I-I don’t want to be blind, young lady…”

_That’s why she’d reacted that way… She may not be the most pleasant dragoness, but I don’t want her to be hurt that way. She already helped me as well, despite the fact what she did to Albacore and Solstice. I need to give her at least some information._

“He is now safe with the SeaWings. Princess Deluge decided to adopt him and she will become his mother, if she survives her injuries,” Firestorm said and watched Magma who breathed a sigh of relief, but looked visibly conflicted as she wrinkled her snout shortly after.

“Deluge..? The dragon who consorted with a NightWing, and there were some rumors about their disgusting and twisted offspring?” Magma said, visibly disturbed. “She is the dragon responsible for multiple SkyWing suicides too… A lot of them couldn’t handle living with shredded wings for the next several years, because they felt as if their freedom was forcefully torn away from them...”

“But at least she’d never killed prisoners,” Firestorm noted. “Although what she’s doing is harsh, it’s still better than Scarlet’s arena... And she's not leaving any dragon permanently injured...”

“Hard to argue with your point, but for a lot of SkyWings death is better than being forced to live on the ground for the next several years, followed by a long rehabilitation.” Magma said, staring blankly at the curtain. “Can you imagine how horrible it has to be, being unable to take off into the skies whenever you wish, being unable to feel the wind gently carrying you through the skies?”

“I would still prefer being alive,” Firestorm pointed out.

“No wonder you adore that IceWing,” Magma snorted and looked at the dragonet again. “You are much different from any SkyWing I ever knew. And going back to the topic, please tell me where they took Snowflare.”

_She knows his name… How is she not realising that I’m his sister..? But maybe that’s actually good, I can avoid some of her questions that way, I don’t want Snowy to come back to those horrible SkyWings..._

“They took him underwater, to some hideout, but I have no idea where it is,” Firestorm said, looking up to Magma as she frowned. “It was the river near which the entire battle took place.”

“Well... At least provided enough information that might save my eye. Scarlet likes to see some progress, she always hated standstills...” Magma said. “You see, we need to find him as both he and his sister were mistakenly taken into that military unit. Small blunder in hatchery’s documents, but it truly riled up one of the most powerful noble family when they finally found out as they immediately demanded the return of their dragonets.”

Firestorm gulped and looked away from Magma.

_We are blue-blooded..? I- I have a true family that even managed to convince Scarlet to look for me and Snowy?_

“What happened to his sister though?” red gold dragonet tried to ask Magma flippantly, but she felt an odd dryness in her mouth when she attempted to do so.

“Quite a sad story. A rumour has it that she died from her wounds shortly after the battle and was burned in a mass pyre,” Magma mumbled sadly. “Her mother and father visited the battlefield and identified the body as it was still slightly recognisable.”

_T-they think I’m dead!? But how!? Why!? Those dragons never saw me and I never saw them too! How were they able to identify “my corpse”? Something in here is not adding up..._

“Anyway thank you for your help,” Magma said and stood up. “Your breakfast will be brought to you roughly in five hours, so better get some sleep during that time. Tomorrow is an important day for you, young lady, the doctors will try to help you with your numb front talon so maybe someday you’d be able to use it as effectively as the uninjured one. You can take it as a small “thank you” from me… Goodnight, Firestorm.”

Adult SkyWing walked slowly towards the door.

_But… By the Moons, I should tell her that I, Snowflare’s sister, am still alive..._

“Magma..?” Firestorm blurted out, nearly immediately regretting her decision, as adult SkyWing turned around to look curiously at her with her single golden eye. “What if the noble mother and father were mistaken..? Wouldn’t that be possible that Snowflare’s sister is alive?”

To red dragonet’s surprise, Magma snorted out an entire cloud of smoke from her nostrils, angrily hissing.

“No. She’s dead. They saw her body.” she spoke, visibly furious. “Don’t tell such dumb stories ever again or I will cut out your tongue. For lying. End of the topic.”

She quickly left the room, loudly slamming the door behind herself, leaving Firestorm scared, shocked, and with even more questions than answers.


	17. Delta

Delta felt blissfully comfortable laying under some kind of extremely warm blanket. He slowly opened his eyes as he saw the dimly lit blue cloth roof of Deluge’s royal tent and he tried to stretch out his limbs on the soft mattress, but he felt something scaly blocking his way. When he looked to his right side he realised what or rather who it was. Bloodfin was embracing him with her front and hind legs and covered his entire body under her warm blood red wings both from below and above. Her tail was twined around his as he tried to move, but she was holding him strongly in place.

“Delta!” she squeaked from emotion, strengthening her hug so much that he lost his breath.

“Bloody- You’re strangling me, love-” He managed to wheeze, before Bloodfin slightly loosened her grip on him.

She moved her snout in front of his and gently kissed him.

“Don’t you ever do something like that to me again!” she exclaimed, as several tears escaped her eyes dripping on Delta’s snout. “I was so horribly worried for you!”

“I’m happy to see you too, darling,” Delta smiled and felt that his vision was getting blurry as well. “And I will try to not get hit next time!”

“If you don't dodge next time I will slap you across the face with my tail,” she said and brushed her snout across Delta’s cheek.

They started laughing and both broke into tears, but those tears weren’t sorrowful ones. No, these tears were carrying the joy that both of them felt, being reunited once more, feeling stronger love for each other than they ever had before.

_I will never make her feel alone or unappreciated… Truly, we dragons very often realise the true value of others or our dear treasures after we thought we lost them… Me and Bloodfin - from now on we will always be together._

“Oh, look at that! The biggest sleepyhead in the world is finally awake! You were gone for a freaking three days, you lazy lizard!” a beloved voice Delta hasn't heard in two weeks spoke. His heart jumped in disbelief and joy as he looked upwards to see his princess, standing over them on her own, although she had her left front leg placed in a sling and had a bandage wrapped around her head, smiling at them.

“Deluge!” he exclaimed, his mouth widely opened as the tip of his tail was flailing happily and he wanted to giggle as if he was a dragonet again. “And I believe that actually you slept longer, little sparkle, unless I overslept something!”

Deluge laughed cheerfully and laid on the mattress on Delta’s left side embracing both Bloodfin and him with her healthy talon.

“I love you both so much,” Delta gulped through his tears as Deluge brushed her snout across his and Bloodfin allowed her to get under her blood red wing as well. “In different ways, but you are the most important dragons in my entire life...”

“You are stating the obvious,” Deluge smirked as an oddly cold necklace dangling from her neck touched Delta’s scales. “And if it’d be any different I’d accuse you of a highest treason - and punish you by tying you down to Bloodfin!”

“I talked with her majesty and she agreed to the idea of us sharing one tent… And it will be placed in her own secluded cavern!” Bloodfin said happily.

“True that… But please, just call me by my name… And I’m sorry again that I haven’t done that earlier, and unknowingly separated you from each other… Now you can be together while doing your duties as Royal Guards!” Deluge said as she twined her own tail around theirs.

“Wait… You are a Royal Guard now as well!?” Delta asked his girlfriend with surprise.

In response she reached to the nearby nightstand and proudly presented a golden badge with crossed halberds on an emerald shield with droplets of water made out of tiny sapphires splashing around it in a circle. “I… Congratulations, my love! And thank you Deluge!”

“My heart got a bit softer when I saw you with your nasty wound, and Bloodfin was by your side at all times...” Deluge explained. “She really loves you, and we even talked about it seriously. I know what happened and that’s why I made a decision to ascend her from a usual soldier to my second bodyguard.”

“He was by your side as well, princess,” Bloodfin noted, and looked into Delta’s eyes. “It was really hard to get him to do anything else, he was so afraid of you dying… And at the same time he blamed himself for your state.”

“And Delta trust me, it was not your fault. I knew the risks, I fought, I lost, but according to Vanilla you saved me. At least twice too,” Deluge said and gently brushed Delta’s snout with hers. “And for that, I’m eternally grateful… Without you I’d have died there, and there’s no point arguing that.”

Delta felt as if something in his heart, that was strained since at least two weeks finally relaxed.

_First Vanilla made me see a reason, then Bloodfin made me realise, and then Deluge assured me and made it possible for me and my love to not split anymore... I love them. As long as I draw breath, I won’t let anyone harm them. As long as I’m able to stand I will be with Bloodfin, defending my little sparkle..._

“I- I thank you that you said that, my princess,” Delta spoke, as several more joyful tears escaped his eyes, and gently stroked her neck. “It is really important for me… And I thank you once more… For everything you did...”

Bloodfin strengthened her hug on him as Deluge slowly backed away and sat up, clutching her bandaged shoulder.

“Ugh.. I think I strained something,” Deluge hissed, but shortly after looked at Delta with a smile. “But nevertheless, thanks to you, I will come back to my little daughter, so I guess we’re even now, if we would’ve ever kept some sort of a record like that… But I will come back to Sea Kingdom after we’ve finished what we started here, in the Sky Kingdom.”

“And that is?” Delta asked. “Sorry, but I didn’t get a memo in my sleep.”

Deluge smiled slightly as Bloodfin helped Delta to sit up with her, still embracing him with her wing. The SeaWing princess however swiftly abandoned her cheerful demeanor and sighed with visible sadness.

“That poor little baby, Snowflare,” Deluge said with her voice filled with a longing notion. “He’s an animus, and it pains me to think what horrible things Scarlet or Burn can make him do. Or what she’s doing to him to enforce him to use his powers in a wrong way. It is our duty to save him. Misuse of his magic can be the doom of him and countless amounts of dragons.”

_Did her brain get damaged or something? SkyWings had no animi since… Forever!_

“But Deluge… He’s a SkyWing. Likelihood of him having such power is really low...” Delta pointed out, looking at Deluge’s bandage on her head with worry. “SkyWings always killed all of their animus dragonets straight after their hatching… At this point they probably rooted out the animus gene from their tribe entirely...”

“I know. I was surprised as well, but when he enchanted a spear that later killed those two SkyWing soldiers… I know what I saw,” Deluge said. “Snowy is an animus. And he’s now imprisoned by the mad queen… It can be the death of us all...”

“Poor dragonet,” Bloodfin sighed.

_That little albino killed two highly trained soldiers? I was sure Deluge killed them when they fell down, but… She was battling Scarlet at such a high altitude that some details might’ve escaped my eyes…_

“But still, even if he’s an animus… How do you even plan to get him?” Delta asked her. “Scarlet’s palace is possibly the most guarded place in the entire Sky Kingdom. We’d have to rally every single soldier from our alliance to mount an attack on her highly fortified positions, and even then we would have to starve them out, and as a result we’d be giving so much time for Blaze’s dragons to maneuver that by the time it’s over she would control the entire continent...”

“Stealth? Infiltration?” Deluge proposed.

“You’d have to depend on some SandWing to do that… And even if our agent would have succeeded in getting into the palace, it would become really suspicious for anyone to be interested in looking for an albino dragonet...” Delta pointed out. “At this point we’d be better off with sending an IceWing there, to try to reason with Scarlet that he is it’s dragonet and count on the kindness of her heart, and that’s literally one of the worst options possible...”

Deluge slightly smiled at the thought of sending an IceWing into the Scarlet’s palace. That sounded totally ludicrous to her.

“Nevertheless we will save him,” Deluge said and gestured to her most trusted dragons to follow her. “Come.”

The SeaWing princess disappeared behind the curtain that separated Delta’s bedding from the rest of the royal tent. He swiftly followed her, Bloodfin present at his side as he moved the cloth.

Deluge’s tent was a rather spacious and brightly lit place which featured both her own sleeping place in a separate section, but the main, biggest segment contained a large table where she and her lieutenants often planned their next moves leading towards ending the war. Around a huge round wooden table where a large map of Pyrrhia with several dragon figurines symbolising movements of the armies from all alliances were present, along with numerous notes, letters and documents, several dragons were sitting. Delta immediately saw Tempest and Shore, sitting near an empty seat very likely reserved for Deluge, but then he stopped for a second in surprise. Near Deluge’s empty place sat a SandWing who he would’ve recognised everywhere. She was sitting calmly in place as if she was some kind of statue made out of solid stone. Her dark eyes were glittering menacingly, under her golden adornment that resembled a crown, as she looked towards him and princess Deluge who limped towards her own seat. SandWing’s scales were yellow and pale gold like sand itself, with the exception of a black diamond-like pattern running down her spine. Her entire figure was slim, but despite being possibly the smallest dragon in the entire room she had something dangerous about her way of being. She squinted at Delta who accidentally stumbled into Bloodfin, who looked at him with visible worry.

“Are you feeling alright, my love?” Bloodfin whispered to him as she gently laid her talon on his shoulder, embracing him with her warm wing. “Do you want to come back to bed? You are still weakened by that poison after all...”

“No, but that’s...” he began.

“Excuse me, Blister, I had a very pressing matter to attend,” Deluge spoke calmly, sitting in her place, beside the SandWing princess. “But now that I’m free again, we can continue.”


	18. Deluge

The SeaWing princess glanced at Delta who looked as if he saw some sort of a ghost.

_ Hmm… Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him there straight after he woke up. Maybe I should’ve brought him to Vanilla instead but she’s still sleeping off all those sleepless days and nights she sacrificed for me and Delta… _

However seeing that for a moment attention of both princesses was focused on him, he quickly walked to his place with Bloodfin, behind Deluge’s seat, which was just in fact a soft cushion, and looked at the SandWing princess visibly uneasily.

“You mentioned that you have a plan regarding our Sky Kingdom issue,” Blister spoke, her voice having a rather unsettling hiss to it. “And since I assume you have dragged me here for a reason, I’m all ears.”

“Well, I imagine that you remembered how we captured a certain SkyWing,” Deluge said and waved her talon at one of her guards, who was named Halibut, as he nodded and left the tent. “And in addition we heard about SkyWings having resistance movements against Scarlet in larger cities. They are quiet now, but if they had a royal face to represent their cause… We could stir up a lot of trouble if we support their efforts, weakening Sky Kingdom, as they will have an open rebellion to quell.”

Blister nodded in acknowledgement, while Halibut walked in with SkyWing prince who widened his eyes in shock, seeing SandWing princess.

“And here he is, I present to you Prince Thunderhead of the SkyWings, the oldest son of the Queen Scarlet,” Deluge said and pointed at the empty cushion near the table. “Come, sit, and don’t be afraid, Queen Blister won’t sting you unless you displease her.”

Even normally calm SandWing princess, couldn’t hide the pleasant surprise at sight of such an important personality.

“I see where this is going… You are planning to place him on the throne of the SkyWings, creating a vassal state that will swear fealty to us,” Blister said, visibly amused by SkyWing’s fear, as she stood up and walked towards him. “Shame that he’s not female, we could’ve ascended him to the throne straight after Scarlet’s death, but once the rebellion starts we will just need at least one, obedient girl from some noble house to bypass this issue. Oh, and all other princes and princesses will have to die to enforce his claim to the throne, but that could be easily arranged, after Sky Kingdom is in chaos. Good job, Deluge, that’s my kind of plan.”

“N-no! Y-you can’t-” prince began, horrified, as Deluge’s lieutenants silently watched the direction the conversation was taking, slightly disturbed. “Some of my brothers and sisters are just little dragonets!! They are innocent!”

“Oh, a shame isn’t it? But that’s the price we are paying for the good of your dragons,” Blister said to him, as she stood behind Thunderhead who was looking at her barb which she placed very close to his tail. “Your Kingdom’s future is in your talons. Would you really pass up an opportunity to stop the suffering of the SkyWings under your mother’s cruel rule? Would you truly be able to live with yourself when your dragons will continue to struggle, knowing that you could’ve done something to stop it, but you decided to do nothing instead?”

“I- I...” Thunderhead began, as he hunched over, gulping loudly.

“Once I was faced by such a horrible choice as well, young prince,” Blister said calmly this time, as she moved her tail away from his body and gently placed her talon on his shoulder, standing over him as he looked up to her, horribly stressed. “Do you know why me and my sisters couldn’t solve the issue of who becomes the next SandWing queen on our own?”

Thunderhead shook his head.

“Because me and my sisters would have to fight against each other in the battle to the death,” Blister answered, as she slowly paced, stopping on his right side, as she got her snout closer to his ear. “And that battle was rigged from the start. Everyone knows that Burn would’ve won. But I couldn’t let that happen. Burn is the most cruel and brutal dragoness I ever knew. She is a terrible sadist. Do you know that she had a collection of oddities? The oddities that even featured stuffed dragons or even their body parts? I still remember when she once met a SeaWing in Scorpion’s Den and invited him to our stronghold, several years before our mother’s death, just to cut off his webbed talons as she wanted them in her collection.”

Deluge slightly shuddered, wrinkling her snout in anger.

_ Burn and Scarlet… Both of them killing and maiming for their own amusement… That’s why Blister should become the next queen of the SandWings. She only kills when she has to, and is indeed a wise dragon, unlike her other sister, Blaze. Our alliance of SeaWings, SandWings, MudWings and eventually SkyWings could finally bring peace to Pyrrhia, spreading righteousness and eliminating the outdated and cruel practices still taking place in the Ice Kingdom and Sky Kingdom… Maybe even we will get rid of the lethal challenges for the throne… If something happened to Coral, as she has no dragonets yet, I’d have to become a queen… And what it could essentially mean in the end is that it would be possible for me to face my little Sapphire in deadly combat… Or my other possible daughters if we ever decided to have more dragonets with Silentskies… It’s terrifying to think about that small baby you once lift in your talons and give her your love and life, might in fact take your own, one day, tempted by power... _

Deluge got distracted from her thoughts as the Blister spoke again.

“I tried to help him, by trying to stop her forcefully, but she just threw me out of her room, as his screams echoed through the halls… That was the day I realised that if I want the good of the dragons, I shouldn’t use my own brute force. That's a warrior’s game. Not mine. That’s why the war began.” SandWing princess continued, as she lifted the SkyWing figurine, previously placed over the city of Highvalley from the table, turning it around in her talon. “SandWings never deserved brutal ruler like Burn or dumb one like Blaze. That’s why I rallied my allies in high places that agreed both with me and my cause, since as you can imagine, having a powerful tribe such as SandWings ruled by an idiot, or psychotic brute can be in not the best interests of the others. Unfortunately Burn went to Scarlet and both of those brutes decided to ally with each other and Blaze probably used her good looks to get into Glacier’s good graces. Same story as mine goes for your SkyWings, but with a small difference. You don’t have to go out of your own way as much as I did, young prince. We are willing to support your efforts to save your tribe.” 

Prince just looked at the SkyWing figurine as Blister used it to topple three others, standing over Scarlet’s palace, and then she put it down in their place and moved other figures representing the SeaWings, MudWings and SandWings moving to stand beside the new army in the capital.

“We care about the good of all dragons, young prince,” Deluge said to him. “We are the good guys here.”

SkyWing prince looked up to Blister, who had a friendly smile on her face.

“I… I don’t know...” he mumbled, and looked down at his own talons. “But… If we succeed, could you maybe try to convince my brothers and sisters to abandon their claim for the throne, and only if that won’t succeed to do the… thing in the most painless and quickest way possible?”

“We promise,” the SandWing princess responded. “But make no mistake, we do not intend to force anything on you, we can just let you go normally, and you will come back to your mother, to live under her claws again…”

Deluge’s lieutenants moved uneasily on their cushions.

_ But what is she talking about!? We cannot let him go! _

“Just give me time… To think about this...” he said and covered his face with his wings.

“I’m leaving tomorrow, so if you could, please inform me about your decision beforehand,” Blister said and walked back to her own cushion, as she whispered to baffled Deluge. “We are done here, you can dismiss him.”

She wanted to oppose what she’s said, but decided to follow her command, waving her talon at Halibut who nodded and escorted the SkyWing prince out of her tent, who was looking at the ground with sadness.

“Why have you told him that, Blister?” Tempest asked, in confusion after they left. “It took us a lot of effort to seize him and now you just want to let him go!?”

“It is much easier for a lot of dragons to make a favourable decision, if they have an illusion of choice,” Blister said and looked at the SeaWing lieutenant with contempt. “Besides, haven't you noticed how he looks, how he acts? He is soft hearted and visibly cares about his SkyWings… And from that I just needed to tug at his vulnerable heartstrings. A lot of dragons like him deep down desire to be heroes, to do something good for their tribe. And besides I saw it in his eyes. He already made a decision, and will help us. Giving him time to think about it will only reaffirm this statement in his head.”

_ Damn, sometimes seeing how talented Blister is in manipulating other dragons is really unsettling... _

“I have to say, I’m impressed, Blister,” Deluge nodded, while Tempest wrinkled her snout looking visibly uncomfortable, and Shore was staring at the figurines placed over Scarlet’s palace thoughtfully.

_ Tempest, brave and honourable, always preferring to face the enemy straight on the battlefield, and because of that this is the way of warfare she always despised, the indirect war, intrigues… She won’t become good friends with Blister, that’s for sure. At least Shore can work around this kind of idea. _

“Since that matter is already dealt with,could you tell me what you are planning as our next move?” SandWing princess asked.

“We wanted to strike at the Highvalley and cripple SkyWing war efforts against IceWings and to make them concentrate their focus on defense, instead on the raids on our MudWing allies,” Shore responded. “Of course we are currently harassing their supply lines, but that’s not enough. We need to completely demolish their main node.”

“At the same time the garrison is too strong for the direct attack, we need the support of the MudWings, at least for the bombardment efforts to soften them up before the main assault,” Tempest added, as she looked up to Blister. “It is a highly fortified city, but they have one big weakness, which is the river from which we can strike, when the SkyWings would try to engage the bombarding MudWings.”

“How many SkyWings are guarding the place?” SandWing princess asked.

“We believe they have from one thousand to thirteen hundred soldiers currently stationed in the city,” Deluge said. “However, if we would threaten with the attacks on the less guarded settlements nearby, they might spread out their troops more. Especially nearby mines that deliver iron which is rather essential for them.”

“Yes… Misinformation and quick skirmishes might work when it comes to diverting their attention...” Blister noted. “Especially when we will get in contact with SkyWing rebels and support their efforts in taking control over some of SkyWing towns, those two actions combined might truly ruin Scarlet. Icewings breaking into her kingdom as well as rebellion, supported by us, I mean.”

“And we can use this turmoil to hopefully save that animus dragonet from Scarlet...” Deluge said, and looked into Blister’s dark eyes. “Even if anything goes as we expect it we can lose everything, if she manages to break him.”

“How do you know she hasn’t broken him yet?” Blister asked the SeaWing princess, her eyes glittered in an unsettling way.

“Because both you and Blaze are still alive,” Deluge noted grimly as Blister shuddered uncomfortably.

“But don’t worry, we will do everything in our power to not let that happen, Blister,” Deluge said, and placed her talon on SandWing’s shoulder gently, as she looked at it with visible displeasure. “We want you to become the next SandWing queen, and with you at our side, finally bring peace to Pyrrhia.”

_ And to save the poor baby… Can’t imagine how scared he must be, trapped alone in Scarlet’s grasp… Once we will save you, little Snowy, we will finally come back to the Sea Kingdom, and live happily ever after, together… I’m sure Sapphire will like you, and make up for the loss of your poor sister... _

“Then we need to work fast. I will send my best spy to the Scarlet’s palace, to maybe catch some whispers about this dragonet’s whereabouts,” Blister said, squinting her eyes at the SeaWing princess as Deluge withdrew her talon. “We cannot leave such a powerful asset in the enemy's talons after all. We need him at our side and that way we will ensure our victory.”

“Of course I understand that we need to maximise our chances, but at the same time, he’s just a baby...” Deluge said. “We shouldn’t-”

“We absolutely should, Deluge,” Blister interrupted sternly. “Think how much good we can do if we will use his powers properly.”

“We can’t! Do you even realise how dangerous animus magic is!?” Tempest shouted suddenly. “We SeaWings are experienced by the tragedy caused by one crazed prince who massacred our royal family! We cannot-”

“And said animus was stopped by the random girl with a spear, please,” Blister snarled at Tempest who was staring at her angrily. “If we keep him under the constant surveillance, there’s no chance he’d be able to do anything like that.”

“But… He’s just a baby...” Deluge mumbled and looked down at the Scarlet’s palace on the map. “How could you even think about stealing his entire dragonethood for the war efforts… He deserves a family...”

“Deluge, I understand that you’re a mother and that you might have other perception of dragonets,” Blister now looked at the SeaWing princess, softening her expression. “But at the same time we cannot allow ourselves to pass up an opportunity like that. We can save a lot of lives by using that dragonet to kill just vital targets in other alliances, effectively ending the war just with his abilities.”

“No! You can make him lose his soul!” Deluge protested, standing up angrily from her cushion. “I won’t let you do anything like that!”

“And you are who, his mother?” SandWing princess frowned, as she stood up as well, getting visibly furious. “Trust me, nobody in Sky Kingdom will ever miss him, they hate animus dragons. Besides, one worthless life of a nobody for victory is a really small price in my book.”

_ How can she even think like that!? Worthless life of nobody… Is she really that good of a queen if she thinks of her potential subjects like that..? _

“Your life is worth as much as his. And this dragonet is mine. I actually adopted him and now I’m his mother,” Deluge snarled angrily, while Blister exposed her teeth and raised her tail barb, moving it dangerously close to the SeaWing princess, but she stood her ground, not even flinching. “Try it, I dare you.”

An odd silence fell, when both princesses maintained tense eye contact. Behind Deluge’s back she felt that both Delta and Bloodfin were getting visibly nervous, shifting from one leg to the other, glancing at Blister’s Duneclaws warily, who looked as if they were ready to strike.

_ I have one useless talon, but she’s still weaker than me, if I would... _

“Your majesties, please, let’s not allow this little disagreement to evolve into something regretful,” Lieutenant Shore suddenly spoke conciliatorially. “We haven’t even found him yet, so let’s try not to kill each other over an argument about the dragon who is still in our enemy’s talons. And I’m sure that my princess just meant that we should just value the life of every dragon, and to not risk dragonet’s life just because we can.”

“Of course. I just didn’t know that he was yours. We will only use his power only if absolutely necessary,” Blister said slowly, squinting her eyes at Deluge. “Are you fine with that,  _ my princess? _ ”

_ There will be no “absolutely necessary”… By the time the situation will start looking dire, we will be far away from the Blister’s reach. She won’t ever touch my little Snowflare. I won’t let any more queens traumatise him, if he would survive Scarlet… That poor baby deserves someone who will love him… He looks so much different from the dragons from his own tribe... Like my late son... _

“That I can accept,” Deluge said and looked down at her own talons, thinking about Dusk who died in his egg.

“Good. And speaking about your upcoming attack on Highvalley… Make your first preparations and proceed with some quick skirmishes, while I will get your MudWings to support your assault on that city,” Blister spoke, still watching Deluge as if she could still attack her. “But at the same time you will contact the SkyWing rebels. We cannot let ourselves have a moment of inaction. We still have a war to win. And speaking of winning the war, show me that NightWing who was involved in your assassination plot. I’m sure I can get some additional information out of her.”

* * *

Two dragons approached the sleeping black dragonet. She was calmly snoring, resting after the injuries she suffered, her both front legs being broken and her entire body suffering rather severe chemical burns, mostly concentrated on her back and wings, very likely leaving her scarred there for the rest of her life. Vanilla, feeling terribly sorry for what she did to the mother of that poor dragonet decided to take her under her wings and care for her until she fully recovers, both physically and mentally and that was the reason why they both shared the same tent, placed in SeaWing princess’ secluded and quiet cavern. Deluge reached out with her tail to gently wake up the dragonet, but she carefully avoided touching her bandaged body to not cause her any more harm.

_ Poor dragonet. She didn’t even want to work as the assassin in the first place and now she lost her mom and got injured horribly...Theoretically I was supposed to be her and her mother’s target, but I honestly feel as if this dragonet is the biggest living victim of this situation... _

“Hey, wake up little one,” Deluge said and gently nudged the NightWing dragonet with her tail. “We would like to ask you some questions.”

Blackout opened her eyes and yawned loudly, and looked at the SeaWing princess with confusion. She slowly sat up on her bed, carefully supporting herself with her wings to not strain her front legs placed on the slings.

“B-but I already told you everything I knew!” she exclaimed, and looked at the Blister with wide eyes. “You already destroyed the entrance from which we’ve entered, tested every single dragon for possible shapeshifters… I even already told you that this attack was ordered by the NightWing royalty too!”

“I know, Blackout,” Deluge spoke with a friendly tone. “But my friend, Queen Blister of the SandWings wishes to know a bit more about you and your masters.”

NightWing’s jaw dropped.

“I- I told you everything I knew I swear!” she shouted, as behind them, Vanilla moved on her bedding through her sleep. “P-please, I don’t know anything more!”

“We will see,” Blister hissed and squinted her eyes, slowly walking closer to her. “Now tell me, little dragonet, why do the NightWings want to prolong the war?”

“I don’t know, my mom was speaking with-” Blackout began, but before she could finish Blister swiftly stabbed her barbed tail into dragonet’s hind leg, as she widened her eyes and shrieked in pain and terror.

The RainWing quickly got up and ran to the dragonet and froze in place, seeing SandWing’s tail stabbed into dragonet’s leg. 

“What- By the Moons why would you do that!?” Vanilla shouted at Blister, who just glanced at her with a look of pure disgust. RainWing’s scales began turning their colour from her standard blue to pale green.

“I’m just having a conversation with that little assassin spawn,” SandWing hissed back as Deluge stood in place, shocked. Blister retracted her tail as the blood gushed out from the dragonet’s wound and she drew a small glass flask from her belt and shook it in front of horrified NightWing’s snout. “I have a small antidote here, as you can see. Without it you will be dead within ten minutes as I injected enough venom to kill you. So better start talking and be quick about it, but beware that if your answers will be a made up lies, I can get thirsty, and since I really like that cactus juice...”

To present the weight of her words she uncorked the flask and drank a hearty amount of the transparent liquid out of the flask and slightly shuddered, as both the dragonet and Vanilla looked at her with pure horror. Blackout started sobbing, while Vanilla hugged her.

“Shh, stay calm, little sunbeam, just answer those questions and it will be all over soon,” RainWing spoke softly, embracing the dragonet with her wing. 

Blister got her snout uncomfortably close to Blackout, as she was whimpering in horror.

“Indeed it will be all over soon, but you can choose the way it will end, _ little sunbeam, _ ” SandWing princess hissed and smiled beastly. “I believe in four minutes you will feel dryness in your mouth, and in six you will feel as if you had a severe fever. And if the convulsions will start shaking your body, you are already gone. So please tell me, why have you tried to hinder our war effort?”

“I- I really don’t know!” Blackout sobbed in horror. “I- I just followed my mom who- NO!!! PLEASE STOP!!!”

Deluge looked back at Blister who took another sip.

“I- I don’t want to die!” NightWing dragonet shrieked desperately, as Vanilla was hugging her. “P-please!!”

Suddenly another two dragons entered the tent, alarmed by Blackout’s sorrowful sobs.

“What is happening- NO!! Stop that!” Bloodfin shouted, as Delta tried to hold her in place. “We promised to not hurt her!!”

_ I- I need to stop this madness… She’s just a poor dragonet. If Blister kills her, my friends, both Vanilla and Bloodfin would be heartbroken… Vanilla because she feels an obligation to care for her after she accidentally killed her mother and Bloodfin because she has her own, private reasons… I can’t let Blister kill Blackout. _

“Blister, with all due respect, but you shouldn’t-” SeaWing princess began.

“I need to do that to solve the issue of those assassins. You’re possibly the best commander we have and we just simply cannot lose you to some random dragon,” Blister responded, angrily staring at the crying NightWing. “Do you want to end the war, Deluge? Do you want the suffering of the innocents to end? Believe me, she’s far from innocent and is in fact the one who tried to sabotage our efforts!”

_ Of course I want the war to end… But at the same time it’s horrible to see Blister being so cruel. Of course, she considers Blackout to be her enemy, and rightfully so, however that NightWing dragonet wanted to confess and was so scared… Poor thing. But if this is really the cost of ending the war... _

Deluge looked away from the dragonet. Vanilla was looking at Deluge, judging by her anxious expression, she was screaming internally at the SeaWing princess to intervene. 

“So you don’t want to tell me why… Hmm...” Blister spoke. “Then please tell me where is the home of the NightWings? I believe that I should pay a little visit to your tribe… With my army.”

Bloodfin was trying to reach out with her claws to Blister, but Delta managed to hold her in place as she writhed angrily. Three SandWing Duneclaws entered the tent as well, warily glancing at Deluge’s royal guards.

“It- It’s so hot...” Blackout mumbled through her tears, Vanilla desperately strengthening her hug as she looked at SeaWing princess with a betrayed look on her snout. “I don’t know where it is… But… there was an entrance in the Sand Kingdom… Guarded… They won’t let you in...”

_ Her second phase. She’s really close to death…  _

“Vague. And in the middle of enemy territory. Are you trying to be clever you dumb little lizard?” Blister hissed angrily.

“It’s close to Burn’s stronghold too,” Blackout mumbled weakly. “W-we have a dangerous... Volcano there… On the island...”

“YOU MEANT MINE STRONGHOLD,” Blister snorted out with rage and hatred. “Are you really thinking that you are cunning, giving me the location of the place that I cannot reach? And do you really want me to believe that the entire NightWing Kingdom is located under my sister’s nose, on an island with a volcano, in the middle of the desert?”

“B-but it’s true,” Dragonet whimpered, as several more tears escaped her blue eyes. “I- I don’t know what more I should say...”

_ By the moons, I can’t let her die! What if Blister tried to do that to Snowy!? It’s literally the same thing, what am I even doing!? _

“Oh, just shut up and don’t speak another word ever again,” Blister said and raised the vial again, with visible intent to drink it entirely as Blackout uttered a sorrowful screech.

But then unexpectedly Bloodfin managed to writhe out of Delta’s grasp as she rammed into SandWing princess, knocking her off her feet and intercepting the vial containing the antidote, but it slipped out of her talons, however Vanilla’s reflexes were on point. She lunged forward, preventing the bottle from shattering and she swiftly turned around, raising it to Blackout’s snout. Deluge never saw a dragon drinking so fast. But then she heard two loud thumps, as both of her guardians got pinned down to the ground by Blister’s Duneclaws. Delta, still weakened after the poisoning was just stopped by one dragon, while Bloodfin was being held under two SandWings, yet she still was growling angrily, trying to bite them.

“She attacked me! Slit her-” Blister began.

“NO! STOP!” Both Deluge and Delta instantly shouted, but the one of the Duneclaws already drew the dagger and held it to Bloodfin’s throat as she went completely still, widening her eyes in fear, feeling the cold metal on her soft underscales.

_ Oh, no what do I do now!? Damn, damn! _

“That traitor raised her talon against me. So that’s why said talon should be cut off,” Blister snarled angrily. “Cut her throa-”

“Stop at once! I- I ordered her to take the vial from you!” Deluge exclaimed, thinking in desperation, while the SandWing soldier pressed the dagger stronger to Bloodfin’s throat and a small amount of blood started dripping down on the ground, as she squawked in fear. “She’s no traitor, but a loyal dragon, do her no harm!”

“You-? If I didn’t respect you so much, I’d start questioning  _ your  _ loyalty,” Blister hissed angrily, as she looked deeply into Deluge’s eyes. The SeaWing princess felt extremely uneasy looking into the empty dark void in Blister’s unreadable eyes but endured the staredown. “Let that ugly red-finned fish go. And another one too.”

SandWings stood up from Deluge’s bodyguards, and they instantly ran towards each other and hugged. Delta gently touched Bloodfin’s wound on her throat and looked at Blister with hatred.

“You have opposed me twice already,” SandWing queen hissed coldly. “Make no mistake, there won’t be a third time,  _ my dear princess.  _ I guess you can keep your dumb NightWing.”

“But why have you tried to kill that dragonet?” Deluge asked.

“What use does it give us to keep her alive? Do you want to let her go back to the NightWings who would see her as a traitor, or you just randomly decided to be a mother to that dragonet too?” Blister snorted out sarcastically. “Hmph, if you keep doing things like that your Sea Kingdom will be overflowing with all tribes...”

“Is it necessarily a bad thing?” Deluge asked her. “And besides you shouldn’t be cruel to dragonets… They have their entire lives before them, they can change a lot through it too. You cannot justify killing her because she did something she had no control over. She was forced to become an assassin.”

“Mark my words, Deluge,” Blister said and looked up to the SeaWing princess, visibly serious. “Your soft heart will doom you one day. We are leaving, Duneclaws.”

With those words SandWings left the tent quietly. Deluge looked around herself. Vanilla was comforting Blackout who was still extremely shaken and buried her snout in RainWing’s embrace. Delta and Bloodfin were hugging and whispered calm words to each other.

_ I’d do everything to protect my friends and innocent dragons… But at the same time, what if what Blister said has some truth to it? I hope I did the right thing… Of course I did! I saved the innocent dragon's life after all!  _

Deluge sat down and looked at Vanilla, who was stroking the sobbing NightWing’s head.

_ Sometimes Blister truly scares me… Would she really be that good Queen of the SandWings after all? _


	19. Silentskies

Silentskies sighed both with happiness and worry as he glanced down at his daughters from the second floor of Deluge’s palace. Black dragon watched his dragonets, both sitting on a large soft cushion, embracing each other, their tails twined together. He loved both Sapphire and Shrimp, even though the orange dragonet was just an adopted daughter, he reserved the same amount of love that he was willing to give his late son for her. 

_They always look so adorable when they are doing things together…_

He felt so happy, seeing how good they were getting along.

“Brother, I did everything I could to prepare your guards,” Starsight spoke, laying down on the ground near him. “I hope this will be enough… But at the same time I have another thing that slightly troubles me.”

“What is it?” Silentskies asked her, worried. “Is your egg alright?”

“Oh, yes. I will lay it very soon, but that is not my concern right now,” she responded. “You see, I noticed that I’m being followed. One of your dragonets - the orange one began observing my movements and what I’m doing. She even once woke me up, as she stood on me, clutching my talon. She was nice to me, unlike Sapphire, but I found it rather odd.”

“Hmm… Maybe she wants to just talk with you, but is not sure how to approach?” Silentskies suggested. “I can summon them to talk about it.”

Starsight mildly nodded.

“Hey, girls!” Silentskies called out, as both of the dragonets looked up to him. “Could you fly up there for a moment?”

Sapphire and Shrimp looked at each other, and then back at their father and nodded. Smaller, dark blue dragonet reached out with her silver-scaled talons to climb on the orange SeaWing. After Sapphire scaled Shrimp’s back, they both took off, swiftly flying to the elevated floor overlooking the main hall they were previously in. As soon as they landed Sapphire jumped off her friend, and they both looked at the NightWings.

“What is it, dad?” Sapphire asked, while swiftly walking to her father. She quickly twined her slender tail around his front leg as she sat down in front of him and smiled. 

_She is such a sweet little dragonet… She always reminds me of Deluge, when we met for the first time… Shame that she can’t be here with us now..._

“We have a small question for Shrimp,” Silentskies responded softly, embracing Sapphire with his wing and he gently patted her head, while she happily murmured.

Orange SeaWing looked at them and slightly drooped her snout, looking down at the ground, her golden necklace, fitted with multiple gems, flailing freely from her neck.

“Oh, come here, orange sweetheart,” Silentskies said and let her under his second wing gently twining his tail around hers. She slightly smiled and leaned her head against his neck. “I love you and Sapphire all the same.”

“T-Thanks dad,” Shrimp responded quietly. “But you wanted to ask me a question, right?”

_Oh, she finally overcame her habit of calling me “sir”... Although she looks quite distraught for some reason. She possibly knows what this question is about. It seems that she was doing something sketchy after all… Question is why and what exactly was it all about?_

“Well, I saw that you took a particular interest in me lately, Shrimp,” Starsight began. “Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but still that makes me slightly question your motives. If you want to talk with me, please do that without any hesitation, I won’t bite you.”

Both dragonets looked at each other, widening their eyes.

_Something is at stake. They both know something. Interesting._

“I.. Well… We just wanted to make sure you’re doing fine,” Shrimp began slowly. “And… we needed measurements for...”

“Oh, she just wanted to convince me that you’re not a bad dragon, Starsight. And I was there too, but due to the fact I’m a half-NightWing I was able to conceal myself very well,” Sapphire said, untangling her tail from her father’s leg. “And now that I saw how you act and all of that, I wish to apologise to you for how I behaved earlier. I understand that you were through a lot and you just want to get a calm place to live and raise your dragonet… I’m so sorry for making it harder for you. That’s why I prepared a gift for you, with Shrimp’s help.”

Hearing those words orange SeaWing perked up and she reached out to the satchel hanging from Sapphire’s side. For a second she stopped, held onto something and carefully drew out a silver bracelet out of the cloth bag, handing it to Sapphire.

“Here, aunt. I made it just for you as an apology… Hope you’ll like it,” Small dragonet smiled and extended her small silver-scaled talon with a beautifully crafted shiny bracelet, set with amethysts, with engravings that looked like dragon scales. “And… I… I’m sorry that I used silver… I did not intend to be cheap, but I thought it will fit your black scales and your beautiful eyes much better, especially with amethysts...”

_Awww… My little Sapphire wanted to prepare a present for my sister… That’s why they acted so odd..._

Starsight was staring at the exquisite jewelry piece with her open mouth.

_In all of my life I never saw Starsight being impressed by something so much…_

“It’s- It’s really for me..? I… I don’t know what to say...” she mumbled, taking the bracelet in her talon as she began examining it. “Nobody ever gave me such a beautiful… Of course I accept your apology, Sapphire… And I really thank you for that jewelry… You really crafted it yourself?” 

“Of course!” Shrimp exclaimed. “I just helped her to choose the gems, but that was my only input. She did everything, back from the twenty ounce silver bar.”

“So beautiful...” Starsight said and put the bracelet on her right forearm. “And it’s fitting perfectly!”

“Well, since you didn’t have any malicious intent in coming to the Sea Kingdom I really thought you deserve some recompense...” Sapphire smiled. “Unless you do have some bad intentions?”

Starsight looked at the jewelry piece with awe.

“Well, of course not. I just wanted my baby to be safe,” Starsight mumbled. “I thought about completing the deed on Deluge, but in the end decided to not harm her… She is my brother’s wife after all! And I don’t spy for any foreign power… They see me as a traitor now so if they ever encountered me, I would be very likely killed on sight.”

Both dragonets looked at each other. Shrimp nodded encouragingly, slightly shuddering, as Sapphire slowly approached Starsight.

“I hope that we will get to know each other better,” Sapphire said, gently embracing NightWing’s leg. “I look forward to spending some more time with you.”

“Of course, little one,” Starsight said, smiling. “I can even tell you some of my stories, you know?”

“But hey I would like to join too!” Shrimp exclaimed, with a slight smile.

Unexpectedly they heard a wing flaps, as someone was approaching them at a reasonably fast pace.

“Silentskies!” The SeaWing messenger called out, landing near the dragons. “I have two messages for you. Happy messages at that too!”

Marlin was smiling as he extended his talon with a wooden scroll holder. Silentskies quickly unrolled the paper and noticed a sigil he never thought he’d see ever again. It looked like a cut off dragon talon, completely engulfed in flames. 

_Order of the Unending Flame._

“Thank you, Marlin,” Silentskies said. “You can go now.”

Starsight widened her eyes uneasily, seeing the paper. Marlin bowed and walked away.

“By the moons...” she whispered to NightWing’s ear. “I can’t believe they really responded...”

“They accepted our offer too...” Silentskies said, reading the poetic, flowery language. “They will finally get to the bottom of this.”

“Brother, I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Starsight said, whispering to his ear, as she looked at the dragonets, who looked slightly confused about their reaction. “Call them off, Sapphire is feeling well now, so there’s no reason to involve them, if...”

“You know me, you know I wouldn’t be able to live with an unsolved mystery such as this, right?” Silentskies said. “And besides, they will just check her if she has any hint of magic on her and they will purge it if they’d find any. She’s not an animus, so she has nothing to fear.”

“But what if she _is_?” Starsight proposed. Silentskies frowned. Both dragonets turned around and walked off further, speaking to each other in hushed tones.

“She is not an animus. She failed Talons of Power test,” Silentskies hissed angrily. “And don’t even try to compare my little dragonet to such a monster ever again!”

“I still feel that we will regret this...” Starsight sighed.

“Oh, damn...” Silentskies mumbled, as he unrolled the second paper, with familiar handwriting. “My love, Deluge… She is awake now… And is capable of leading an army...”

Starsight cursed quietly.

_M-my babies… They’re now in grave danger..._

“Sapphire, Shrimp! Come back here, at once!” Silentskies shouted, as both dragonets swiftly walked back to him, both having rather distressed expressions. “Go to your bedroom Sapphy, and stay there with Shrimp until I say otherwise.”

“We- We’re grounded..?” Sapphire asked, and stamped her foot indignantly. “B-but why!? We did nothing wrong, dad!”

“Was there something wrong with the bracelet?” Shrimp asked with sadness. “We- we really put our heart into it...”

“Bracelet was beautiful, but-” Starsight began softly, but her brother interrupted her.

“We have no time for that,” Silentskies said as he took off and lifted small Sapphire in his talons, as she yelped in surprise. “Come with me, all of you.”

“Dad, let her go!” Shrimp exclaimed, as she took off as well, following them. But he didn’t listen anymore. He needed to ensure his little dragonet’s safety. Sapphire’s bedroom was one of the safest places in the palace, having only one entrance. As long they’re here, not a single scale on their bodies will be harmed. Several additional armored dragons were already present in front of her room already, as he loudly opened the door to Sapphire’s bedroom.

_I need to protect both of my dragonets. I will make them safe. No matter what it takes._


	20. Firestorm

Red gold dragonet gritted her teeth as two unfamiliar SkyWings were trying to move her numb talon. One of them, a dark red female, slightly scratched her palm.

“Do you feel anything?” she asked her.

Firestorm shook her head in sadness.

“Hmph, her nerves are still damaged,” another healer, an orange male noted. “When have you suffered the trauma?”

“Around ten days ago,” She whispered back. “IceWing stabbed me with a spear in my forearm.”

“And you observed no change when it comes to feeling with that talon, or moving it?” Female SkyWing asked her.

She shook her head again and her vision blurred, as she was nearly certain what the healers will say soon.

“I- I tried it again after I got wounded and I was still slightly capable of moving my fingers, but...” Firestorm said in sadness. “But after I got my leg frostbitten and I fell, the spearhead possibly dug deeper and… and...”

“That’s very likely her nerves got completely severed then, what do you think, Sparrow?” Male healer asked the second who was moving around Firestorm’s numb left front leg. “No change for better after such a long period of time?”

“Indeed. Poor girl,” Sparrow responded.

“W-what does it mean?” Firestorm mumbled, while one tear escaped her eye.

“It means that it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to use or feel your talon ever again,” Sparrow said. “It will stay like that for your entire life. Sorry that I have no warm words to ease the brutal truth, but I just want to be honest with you.”

Firestorm looked down at her own talon that Sparrow laid on a soft mattress. She tried to desperately order it to curl up into a fist, but her fingers remained still. Her front leg was completely paralysed, starting from below her wound roughly at the half length of her forearm. She felt her chin shuddering.

“Since there’s no p-possibility of rehabilitation, what should I do with that?” She mumbled in sadness.

“Well, we can offer you an amputation if you want,” Sparrow said carefully. “I mean, this useless talon could feel more like a burden, and instead we’d be able to later fit in an appropriate and stable prosthetic leg you’d be able to stand on. I bet in one or two months you will be even able to run again!”

Firestorm started sobbing.

_This leg already feels like a burden, hanging uselessly from my body… Can’t even walk on it now, I tried it and fell… But it’s my talon! How could it be even cut off and replaced by something artificial!? No. I don’t even want to think about this._

“NO! I want to have my leg!” she shouted.

“But listen, that’s just the best choice,” Sparrow continued, jabbing her claw into Firestorm’s numb talon. She felt absolutely nothing. “Unless you have an animus dragon at your disposal, and that’s kinda unlikely.”

_I need to find Snowy… He will help me._

“What is happening?” a male SkyWing entered the room, visibly concerned. He was the same dragon who guarded her the previous night “Are you alright, little one?”

“I- I don’t want them to cut off my leg!” Firestorm sobbed. “I- I want to move it again normally!”

“You two, out,” SkyWing snarled at the healers.

“But we-” Sparrow began in confusion, dropping Firestorm’s numb talon on the soft mattress.

“I said out,” Adult SkyWing growled angrily. “Can’t you see that you’re scaring the poor dragonet?”

Sparrow snorted out in displeasure but she and the other healer left the room.

“It’s alright, little one. Nobody will ever do such a thing to you, if you don’t want it,” SkyWing said as he gently approached the dragonet lying on her soft mattress. “But make no mistake, judging by what they said this damage is rather serious.”

“No. I will move it again one day,” Firestorm responded firmly, wiping the tears off her snout with her healthy right talon.

_Snowy will make it possible._

“Of course, poor girl,” SkyWing said compassionately. “I hope your words will come true one day.”

“But… Who are you?” Firestorm asked, looking up to him. He was a rather muscular dragon, with dark red scales, but oddly enough, he had completely white underscales and wing membranes. Unlike other SkyWings Firestorm met earlier that were affiliated with Magma, he had a rather minimal amount of scars. In fact only ones he had were concentrated on his snout, and were visibly left by burns. His lips looked as if they were once melted away by something.

_Either pacifist, or in fact extremely skilled warrior. Second is more likely though, judging by Magma’s line of work..._

“Let’s say that I’m Magma’s close friend. _Very_ close friend,” He smiled slightly. “My name is Chillwind.”

“Chillwind? That’s… A rather odd name for a SkyWing,” Firestorm blurted out, while he raised his brows slightly. “I mean, your name is really nice, but… Umm, sorry.”

“Don’t worry Firestorm, you’re not the first one who pointed out lack of fieryness in my name,” he responded. “But as you might imagine, there was a reason for that. Go on, touch my scales.”

He leaned towards her, exposing his underscales, while Firestorm hesitantly reached out to touch his chest. It was ice-cold.

“You- You are a hybrid...” she noted in surprise. “But you don’t look like one...”

“My father was an IceWing and mother a normal SkyWing you see. I inherited most of my features from my mother and Moons be praised for that. And my name originates both from my scales and the fact that most dragons think that I can’t breathe fire,” Chillwind sighed and looked at the window that allowed sunbeams to pour into the room. “That ice idiot cursed me with a really freakish characteristic. You see, in fact I can breathe fire, but it’s so unbearably hot that it has ice blue color, and I even accidentally melted the entire wall of my cavern, by firebreathing at it for just a second... My scars on my snout are originating from that one attempt when I was just four year old dragonet. I nearly died because of that… But my mother saved me, while _that_ IceWing wanted to finish me off, as I was: “Too dangerous to be kept alive”.”

_Exactly what SkyWings would’ve done to Snowy if he was fireless… But because he would’ve been too weak to call himself a SkyWing. I sometimes absolutely hate my own tribe._

“I thought it was a SkyWing thing to do,” Firestorm said bitterly. “My own brother felt if on his scales.”

“Actually my mother loved me very much,” Chillwind slightly tilted his head in suspicion.

_Whoops… My tongue is too long!_

“He unfortunately died in the battle,” she said and looked down to hide her own panicked expression, beginning to cry again. “I- I loved him so much… He was the only family I had in this horrible world...”

“Poor baby. You’ve been through so much suffering already,” Chillwind said softly and embraced her with his cold wing. “I really wish you the best in your life… My Magma already sent her agents to look for that SeaWing and IceWing. I hope you will live a good life with them, you deserve it.”

_Ohh… Magma and Chillwind are a couple. That’s why they hate IceWings..._

“Thanks, Chillwind,” she responded and leaned her snout against his neck. She almost felt as if she was in Solstice’s embrace.

_Soon…_

“I hope the stitches on your foot are not hurting,” He said carefully, while Firestorm slightly withdrew and looked at her bandaged leg. “If those healers botched that amputation I’m going to find them and they will pay for that.”

Firestorm carefully reached out to her bandaged foot and she carefully touched her horribly shortened toes. These were the smallest digits on her left foot, but they still caused her a lot of stinging pain as she slightly nudged their stumps with her healthy talon. She hissed from it, slightly relenting.

“Don’t touch them though! They are still healing and you might require another surgery if the infection will get into them!” Chillwind exclaimed, and caught her talon with his. “I just meant like normally, when you sit around...”

“They feel fine… Until I touch them...” she hissed as Chillwind let go of her forearm. “But I still can’t use that leg for walking. It needs to heal first.”

Adult SkyWing sighed in sadness.

“I feel really bad for what happened to you. You’re just a small dragonet who already faced so much suffering...” he said softly. “Just like a small Snowflare and your other clawmates. But tell me did you know him? How was he like?”

_Don’t spill the beans. Don’t. What if he will get furious just like Magma if I suggest that I’m Snowy’s sister..? I can’t take risks like that. I don’t want them to find him and I can’t let them find out who I am… But at the same time what if they’d actually bring me and Snowy back to my family? I would’ve met my real mom… and my real dad..._

“He was a really nice dragon. He was always so caring and loving to his sister and friends,” she said with a longing croon in her voice. “He comforted Hearth when she lost her arm, he shared his food with me when I was being starved as a punishment, which got him beaten up afterwards by our commanding officer... She slashed his cheek so badly that he needed the help of healers, otherwise he could have bled to death...”

Chillwind snorted out and frowned in disgust.

“This entire idea of dragonet soldiers is just… evil,” he said in anger. “Instead of protecting you, Scarlet is using you to protect herself...”

“I always had this one question in mind… Why?” Firestorm asked him. “How can we be even useful soldiers in the first place? We can’t even match the weakest soldiers in a fair combat...”

“Because Scarlet is just a horrible dragon. She decided that she wants to have an elite unit of fiercely loyal soldiers. But with a requirement that said soldiers would have to start as dragonets,” Chillwind said with sadness in his eyes as he looked down at the red gold dragonet. 

_He really dislikes Scarlet, yet seems to be content with his mate following her loyally? Although, she might have no choice so he just goes along with it, powerless to oppose the queen…_

“But everyone knew that casualties in such units would be extremely high, as Scarlet only wanted the strongest to grow up to be her own personal guard. No parent wanted to give up their dragonets for nearly certain death, even though she was promising a big recompense.” Chillwind continued, walking in circles near Firestorm’s bed. “That’s why she came up with the idea of a breeding program. To create you from her strongest soldiers, making parents theoretically unattached to their offspring. And that in fact was true in most cases, but some of the parents, particularly mothers wanted to actually see their dragonets, but that possibility was brutally taken away from them. Some were punished, some ceased their attempts in sadness… But some took the matter in their own talons.”

“J-just like Snowy’s parents?” Firestorm asked with a wobbly tone.

Chillwind walked towards the window, and looked at the noisy street below with a slight smile.

“Exactly like them,” he said and sighed. “Shame that they were too late to save his sister. Their mother and father grieved so much after that… In fact they still do.”

_I just can’t hide it any longer. I’m Snowy’s sister and if they would believe me, I could reunite with my parents very soon… Make them happy that I’m still alive._

“Chillwind… I...” she began stuttering, as he looked towards her. “I think that- I- Snowflare is my brother… And I am his sister...”

“No, you are not… You said something completely contradictory earlier,” he responded and looked away at the street again. “Besides we saw her dead. Her parents saw her dead. Every official and soldier confirmed that they saw her disappear in the IceWing frostbreath attack, and her wounds that we managed to identify after they burned her little body matched their testimony. She is dead.”

“But-” Firestorm began as the big tears began to run down her cheeks. Chillwind slowly walked towards her and laid his talon on her snout, smothering her words.

“I understand that you’d love to have a family like that, poor girl,” he said softly. “But unfortunately it is very unlikely that it is true. Body was identified, she is dead in all documents. I wish you that you will find your family, one day.”

“I’m not dead!” she shouted in desperation, as soon as he let go of her snout. “I- just… Just ask him and he will confirm that!”

“Shh, it’s all right, little one,” Chillwind said and embraced her with his wing. “I know what you are feeling right now. I assure you that we will certainly ask him about it after we get him out of SeaWing talons.”

Firestorm looked down at her own golden underscales, slightly glittering under the sunlight.

_But what if he’s happy with princess Deluge? SkyWings are not the nicest dragons after all… What if they will be much worse than the dragon who currently adopted him? I… I think he should choose his own path in this regard… If he likes Deluge more for example..._

“But maybe he likes being with them?” Firestorm asked him carefully. “If he wanted to stay with the SeaWings instead would you allow him to do so?”

Chillwind looked at her thoughtfully.

“If it depended on me Firestorm, I’d let him make a choice, if that would make him a happier dragonet… After all he suffered too much to make such a decision for him,” he sighed. “If that would be what he really wanted, I won’t stop him from being happy. He deserves it. In fact all of you poor dragonets deserve that. And that’s why Magma decided to help and she will find your SeaWing, with that... _IceWing_. Although I don’t think that the SeaWings would be good guardians to Snowflare...”

“But she still wants to receive the information about Snowflare, right?” Firestorm began. “Who can guarantee that Magma won’t try to torture him to get information about his whereabouts?

“Well, nobody. But you must understand that this is her job.” Chillwind calmly spoke. “But then again, you can help him and convince him to give up the information willingly to her, so she will let him go truly unscathed.”

“But he will be betraying his dragons!” Firestorm exclaimed. “You can’t make him do that!”

“Oh, but he already did so, right?” he reasoned. “After all he deserted his own military unit for you, betraying his duty to the Kingdom of the Sea.”

“But… That’s different!” she said, her chin shivering. “He will be risking the lives of his friends!”

“Well, that’s his decision to give us the information,” Chillwind said. “He already chose a new way of life, and decided that he values you more than his SeaWing friends, it appears… So it should be a rather easy choice for him.”

“But-” Firestorm began, but the scream that echoed from the street interrupted her.

Adult SkyWing quickly ran to the window, moving the curtains to let more light inside. He looked down and shook his head in sadness. 

“Look what your good SeaWing princess is causing,” he said to her, not turning away from the sight behind the window.

Firestorm carefully crawled to the unglazed window, while adult SkyWing made a room for her, and supported her as she leaned over the edge of her bed. She looked down at the street below. One female dragon stood in front of the doorway of the crude building, opposite to the place Firestorm was at, her mouth widely opened, as she stared at the SkyWing who just was looking at the ground in sorrow. And then Firestorm looked at his wings. They were covered by the bloodstained bandages, wrapped all around them, folded on his back.

_His wings… They are shredded…_

“My baby!” the dragoness cried and she quickly ran and embraced her son with her front talons. He started crying. “What in the Moons they’ve done to you!?”

“M-mom...” Younger dragon sobbed. “I- I love you...”

“Y-your wings...” Mother mumbled. Several tears escaped her eyes, as she put her large wings over his back. “M-my poor baby… I love you too...”

Firestorm gulped, while mother sadly led her son inside the building, helping him walk, supporting him from the side, under her wing. SeaWings were making dragons unable to fly anymore…

_Maybe some of them will heal one day, but Deluge is crippling all surrendered dragons like that… Three moons, how many more tragedies like that are happening? What if someone has no family to return to?_

_And all of this was ordered by the SeaWing princess who adopted my brother… How can such a dragon be a good mother, if she does something so horrible to others? Maybe Snowy is in danger?_

“This young dragon… And many others… Now they can’t even feel the wind on their scales...” Chillwind sighed with sadness. “We are actually rescuing Snowflare from those sadists.”

“But… But… Seawings at least are not killing them or sending them to an arena like Scarlet!” Firestorm pointed out and looked up to the adult dragon who was watching the sad scene happening on the street below. “It is much better for those dragons!”

“Yeah… And please explain that to that crippled dragon and his mother. And besides, Deluge ordered the killing of some dragons regardless. Have you heard what happened to Charcoal or Igneous? We’ve seen them and many others with their throats slit,” Chillwind said, meeting her eyes. “How do you explain that then?”

_Igneous… This terrible lizard got what she deserved. She was always so horrible to everyone, and even slashed Snowy’s cheek, when he shared his food with me. But Charcoal? He was a nice dragon, who actually stitched back Snowy’s snout, and prevented Igneous from killing him. He was a good dragon… Why would anyone want to kill him!?_

“It seems that you know those names,” Chillwind noted, looking deep into her eyes. “SeaWings aren’t so good anymore?”

“Charcoal was so nice… He was the only dragon who seemed to at least acknowledge that we are actual living beings...” Firestorm said mournfully, drooping her snout. “I hope he will be reborn soon...”

_Maybe Snowy really should come back to his real parents… And if he would be saved from the SeaWings he could help me and also confirm that I’m his sister._

“And again, you’re the only known living survivor from all those dragonet squadrons under Prince Thunderhead’s command, don’t know whether Magma told you about this,” Chillwind gently laid her back on her bed, covering her with the warm blanket. “We found numerous tiny bodies, but nearly a half of your clawmates disappeared without a trace. You are the only one who has been found.”

_Did the SeaWings..? Moons, what have they done to them!? They haven’t kidnapped them to their secret camp, because it is hidden below the water… Have they… Killed them? Have they sold them to someone..? By the northern winds… Maybe Albacore actually meant something sinister by the “adoption”... What kind of horrible thing Deluge could do to Snowy or Hearth?_

“Chillwind!” a voice shouted from behind the closed door to Firestorm’s bedroom. Adult SkyWing looked towards the source of the voice.

“Chillwind!” a SkyWing busted out from the door. “Magma wants to see you immediately! The SeaWings-”

“Shh, I will see for myself,” Chillwind interrupted him and swiftly walked towards the messenger. As soon as he touched the doors with his talon, he turned around to look at Firestorm. “I will tell you later if this is relevant, little one.”

She nodded, while he slightly smiled and left the room, quietly closing the doors with his tail.

_What horrible thing SeaWings did this time? But maybe Magma found Albacore? I just need to talk both to him and Solstice... Maybe there were some other reasons why Albacore quit the army. I miss them..._


	21. Delta

Delta looked down at the dragon he loved the most in the entire world. She was lying on the bed, sleeping in his embrace after Vanilla stitched back her throat underscales and wrapped a bandage around her bright blue neck. Delta gently placed his talon on Bloodfin’s snout, slowly stroking her with care. She slightly moved through her sleep, murmuring with pleasure.

_I shouldn’t let her go. But when she looked so distressed about that dragonet… I just couldn’t stop her from helping the little one. But at the same time she was nearly killed, by getting between Blister and her prey. Good thing Deluge took the blame on herself so that SandWing would’ve risked SeaWing retaliation if she did something bad to the princess’ loyal subject, but at the same time… If Deluge hesitated a bit longer, my Bloodfin could’ve died there..._

Delta embraced her stronger, not being able to let her go, not after he nearly lost her twice in the last several days. He inhaled her sweet scent, smelling like tropical flowers growing on the southern islands of the Kingdom of the Sea, as he brushed his snout along hers.

_This world is so horrible to test me like that, especially now when I began to truly understand her and her feelings thanks to that ring… That made me love her so much more, now when we have no secrets that we are hiding from each other. Very soon she will wake up and we will have to go to another dangerous assignment with princess Deluge, this time assaulting some SkyWing mine. Sometimes I truly wish Deluge to finally settle down and go for a safer life with her family, so me, Bloodfin and she could be together, not risking our lives every day, being uncertain whether the current day might be our last._

Bloodfin slightly shivered, mumbling something incomprehensible.

_Soon is the time to wake up and risk our lives again… Vanilla said that we shouldn’t fight while I’m weakened by poison and Bloody’s wing is still recovering and she has fresh stitches in her neck, but I can’t leave Deluge alone, and Bloodfin wants to follow me everywhere._

Delta felt her tail strengthening her grasp on his own, almost confirming his thoughts. He heard a commotion outside. A female dragon was speaking firmly, sometimes stamping her foot on the ground to mark the weight of her words. Deluge was talking to her dragons already.

_As much as I hate to move from this comfy position, it’s time to wake up…_

He gently licked Bloodfin’s snout. She yawned, but didn’t wake up.

“My love, it’s time to get up,” Delta whispered to her ear.

“Give me… Five more minutes,” she mumbled.

“Don’t make me beg you, darling,” Delta smiled, nudging her scaly ear with his snout, feigning angry growling. “Or I will bite your ear.”

Unexpectedly, she jumped in terror while accidentally bumping into Delta’s snout, making him let go of her and she instinctively covered her head with front talons.

“N-no, please,” she whimpered in a shaky voice. “I-I will go n-now.”

Delta rubbed his snout, and looked at her, while she slowly exposed herself, staring at him with tears in her golden eyes, her chin shivering. Delta slowly sat up on their bedding, still shocked by her reaction.

“I-I’m sorry… I thought you were my father...” she whispered, wiping her tears that began running down her snout. “I didn’t hurt you, my love..?”

_I’m stupid. She’s still traumatised by her family and now I scare her like that._

“No. And I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have done that,” Delta said and gently embraced her with his wing when she sat up. “Haven’t taken into consideration your… Past when I made this small joke...”

“It’s alright, D-delta,” she whispered, but the tone of her voice told him otherwise. She leaned her snout against his neck, while he embraced her with his front talons. “I- I just got spooked, that’s all...”

_No it’s not alright. You are scarred by your abusive parents, but I will do everything in my power to heal you, my love._

“Remember darling, you’re not alone,” Delta said softly. “If you were ever scared or in danger, I swear I will always be close to either comfort or defend you. You are the biggest treasure in my entire life and as long as I draw breath I will always be there for you.”

“I love you Delta,” she whispered in his embrace. “The bad memories of my parents… They keep coming back. Sometimes when I was alone in my tent, before Deluge allowed us to be together, I was having nightmares about them, often waking up screaming. When you are nearby and I can feel your scales I feel safe, but what you did a moment before… It reminded me how I was being woken up with threats and beating...”

“I’ll never let them touch you again, Bloodfin,” Delta said and gently stroked her long neck, cautiously avoiding her bandage. “You are always safe with me, and I will never leave you alone, unless of course you’d really want it.”

“Oh, Delta… I don’t know in which world I’d want that to happen,” she leaned forward and whispered to his ear. “I love you so much… I don’t want to ever let you go!”

Delta slightly withdrawn to look at his beloved. She still had tears in her eyes but was smiling. He looked down at her bandaged throat… She was bleeding again. Her sudden movement must’ve damaged the stitching Vanilla pieced together to mend her wound the previous day.

“By the Moons, you are bleeding my love,” Delta said, gently reaching to touch wet fabric. “And rather profusely, too… You can’t go with me in such a state, Vanilla was right that you shouldn’t move as long as it heals...”

“B-But I can’t leave you!” she exclaimed and laid her talon on his. “I don’t want you to risk your life alone!”

“There will be other dragons and Deluge of course,” he pointed out looking up to her. She was grimacing from pain. “Just come with me to Vanilla, she needs to patch up your wound again, and then we will decide whether it is safe for you to go with me.”

“Grrr...” she growled. “Fine.”

Delta helped her get up and they both walked to the entrance, he lifted the fabric to see that there were several armored SeaWings standing in the cavern. Deluge was speaking to Tempest and Shore. Delta led his beloved out of their tent and turned towards Vanilla’s. As soon as he entered, the fragrant scent of rainforest flowers struck his nostrils in the mildly lit spacious pavilion, now filled with various herbs and vials hanging from the lines suspended from the wooden frame of the tent.

“Woah, you really made it smell like your home!” Delta exclaimed.

“Shhh,” RainWing hissed from the corner of the room. “She’s sleeping.”

He looked towards the mattress where NightWing dragonet was calmly lying on the light blue shape that was curled around her. Golden eyes opened, Vanilla was looking straight at them.

“Right, sorry,” Delta apologised, while his girlfriend entered the tent as well, stopping at his side.

“Is the baby NightWing alright?” Bloodfin asked with care.

_Maybe now I understand why she cares about her so much, but at the same time it seems so unreasonable… But emotions very often tend to be unreasonable after all..._

“She will live, but that monster’s venom still might have lingering effects on her health… She injected so much of it to such a young organism...” RainWing spoke, gently stroking Blackout’s snout. “But as long as she will need to be taken care of, I will provide it. But you came here for a different reason I assume. What do you need, friends?”

Vanilla carefully laid the dragonet's black head on the soft bedding, gently stroking her one more time, before she stood up and looked up to them.

“Stitches in Bloody’s throat got damaged, and her wound is now hemorrhaging again,” Delta said, pointing at his girlfriend’s bandage. “It hurts her a lot, even though she won’t admit it.”

RainWing shook her head, frowning. Delta led Bloodfin near Vanilla as she picked up the oil lamp to see SeaWing’s wound more clearly.

“I told you that you shouldn’t strain your neck, or this could happen- tsk, tsk,” RainWing slightly frowned, unrolling the bandage which exposed horribly looking laceration left by SandWing blade. She reached out with her talon to touch the damaged stitches, while Bloodfin squawked in pain. “In this state I cannot let you fight. You can kill yourself that way. If you tried to put on your plate armor you could easily damage your virtually exposed arteries and that will swiftly lead to extremely serious, possibly lethal, blood loss.”

“But… I have to go with Delta!” Bloodfin exclaimed through her gritted teeth.

“To kill yourself?” Vanilla responded, raising her brows. “Not another word, or I will ask Deluge for permission to bind you to the bedding. And I believe that she’d eagerly agree, especially when your life is at stake. You are staying here with me, I need to redo your stitches and disinfect your wound again so the infection won’t get in.”

“You heard the lady,” Delta said softly. “Just do it for me. I will feel horrible if something happened to you because of me. And besides there will be princess Deluge too, and we will protect each other at all times, my love.”

“But you and she are wounded too!” Bloodfin whispered to him laying down on the ground. “You got hit by the NightWing disc with the poison!”

“That’s true, but my wound at least got some time to heal, while not being as serious to begin with... And since Vanilla agreed that I can fight, well I have to assist Deluge,” Delta said gently touching Bloodfin’s snout. “She needs someone who will look after her.”

Vanilla poured some liquid on her front legs, smearing it all over her talons, while Bloodfin drooped her snout in defeat. She turned around to grab another vial, while raising Bloodfin’s snout to expose the wound. She spilled a hearty amount of the foul smelling substance on SeaWing’s laceration as she squawked.

“With her healing armpit Deluge shouldn’t really move out of her bed at all, but at the same time what can I do to stop the SeaWing princess?” Vanilla rolled her eyes as she carefully began to remove damaged thread from Bloodfin’s throat, who was grimacing from pain, having her eyes completely shut. “However I noted that she is a rather… Strong dragon. She actually recovered way faster than I expected and when I last checked her left front talon, her wound… Nearly disappeared. Along with some of her old bruises on her chest. I mean several hours after I woke her up from her coma she already was dispatching orders and began catching up on the events that occurred during her absence.”

Delta frowned.

_What? I knew that Deluge is a healthy dragoness, but at this point she nearly came back from the dead! I saw her nearly dying on my talons and now!? She just walks it off like nothing happened… That’s good of course, but at the same time… Disturbingly unnatural._

“Just like that?” Delta asked, as he shook his head in astonishment. “We’ll see how she will handle herself in combat today then...”

“But-” Bloodfin began, but Vanilla smothered her words with her front talon.

“Let me work, alright?” RainWing hissed in irritation. “When you talk your entire neck is throbbing, and it makes my job immeasurably harder. Just say your lover’s goodbye and let me patch you up, is that fine?”

“Of course,” Bloodfin mumbled as soon as Vanilla let go of her snout. “Delta..?”

Green SeaWing immediately walked to his beloved and lovingly embraced her with his wings, twining his tail around hers. She happily murmured, entangling her own tail around his and she got her snout close to his.

“I swear I will come back to you, my love,” Delta whispered into her ear. “And when I will be back we can go bathe together again in our hot spring which is now safe...”

“Oh, screw the bath,” Bloodfin talked back, her golden eyes glittering. “All I want is your safe return, darling.”

“I will return,” he responded firmly, as he brushed his snout along hers. She lovingly licked his scales in return. “Just rest during my absence and stay calm.”

He let her go, but she looked up to him longingly already, her tail still strongly holding his own. He tried to wriggle it away, but her grasp was too tight.

“And you are leaving me again, just shortly after you promised me otherwise...” she mumbled in sadness. “I… I just don’t want to let you go, Delta...”

“I’m not leaving you, Bloody,” Delta spoke, looking into her beautiful eyes. “I’m just-”

“If you’ll die there I will kill you,” she said, strengthening her grasp on his tail. “Just return to me.”

“I’ve already fought in numerous battles,” Delta pointed out, smiling. “And I haven’t died a single time yet!”

Without a warning she threw her arms on his shoulders embracing him strongly both with her front legs and wings. Bloodfin moved so fast that she touched him with her wound, as he felt warm liquid flowing down his neck.

“You were pretty close a number of times though...” she whispered. “Please, just don’t take unnecessary risks.”

“Darling, your wound-” Delta noted.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Vanilla hissed as she walked to their side. “Just stop that before you damage your throat any further Bloodfin! Actually you’re the one who takes unnecessary risks right now!”

Bloodfin withdrew in sadness, and even let go of Delta’s tail. He wanted to hug her again, but seeing how much blood was escaping her wound again, he decided otherwise.

“Stay safe, Delta,” Bloodfin said, looking into his eyes in sadness.

“I will,” he responded. “See you later, my love.”

Vanilla nodded while she began to work on Bloodfin’s throat as he slowly turned around and walked away to the entrance of RainWing’s tent. He moved the fabric and he was in Deluge’s cavern again. He swiftly ran back to his tent to get his weapons and armor.

_Right, I just need to gear up now and I will join Deluge shortly._

* * *

Delta fitted the last plates of his armour on his neck, punching it with his talon to ensure that they would truly protect them, as it responded with metallic _Clank!_ both mail and fireproof fabric nearly completely absorbing the force of the blow. He looked down at his front talons, fully protected by his plate armor, nearly impervious to any attack. He reached out behind his back and counted twelve fletched javelins and one heavy halberd, still immaculate after he got it freshly forged from the blacksmiths after he’d forgotten about his old one, leaving it near the river in the Sky Kingdom.

_Now that’s good. Time to go and finally say hello to princess Deluge!_

With sounds of metal singing at his every step, he left his tent and noticed that the SeaWing princess was still in the process of talking to her lieutenants, each of them already wearing their own set of black plate armor. He tried to walk as quietly as possible to the side to not distract Deluge… And to listen to her plans a bit, getting into the crowd of other SeaWings who stood nearby. Delta looked on their faces and recognised several wing leaders, mostly lower ranking, but they were more than capable of leading small SeaWing squadrons.

_Let’s hear this briefing then..._

“...and since you know what happened in the previous battle I realised that I can’t have two equal lieutenants,” SeaWing princess spoke, looking at her most trusted dragons warily. “And that’s why I will be handing one promotion to one of you if something bad ever happened to me. Of course, you handled my absence very well, aptly adapting to the circumstances and even saving our brothers and sisters that fell into captivity, especially Piranha… Scarlet nearly ripped her apart after she denied her kill on me.”

“I already promoted her for her bravery, and even allowed the RainWing to look at her wounds, she seems to know her craft very well after all… What Scarlet did to her with the scourge… I believe she has more wounds than scales at this point...” Tempest shook her head in disgust. “And of course we need to provide the best care for such a young and brave dragon after all, so she will fight valiantly again! But then, why exactly do you want to ascend one of us?”

“We’ve worked together without any issue...” Shore noted as Tempest vigorously nodded, placing her massive talon on his shoulder. “Is there a really need for that, friend?”

“Exactly!” Tempest exclaimed, patting him on his head as he snorted in displeasure. “He is acting sometimes like some kind of dryscale, but he is a nice lizard after all, aren’t you little Shorey?”

Deluge visibly smiled, while Delta chuckled. Despite Shore being an older and much more experienced dragon, Tempest was towering over him and of course Deluge, which sort of made them look like dragonets when they stood near her, if nobody would’ve taken Tempest’s extraordinary size into account.

“Well, of course,” Deluge spoke slowly. “But what if once there would be a dilemma that you’d encounter and you wouldn’t be able to agree with each other on something? Such arguments might cause you to commit tactical mistakes which cannot be allowed to happen, my friends. Not when so much SeaWing lives are at stake. There always needs to be a higher authority, here in the military.”

Shore nodded in acknowledgement. Tempest still looked at Deluge disapprovingly.

_Shore knows that it is very unlikely that it would be him… If Deluge would promote Tempest she would effectively demote Shore without changing his rank._

“Therefore, I princess Deluge of the SeaWings, Highest War councillor and commander of the Heralds of the Tide, promote you, Lieutenant Shore to my second-in-command and First Lieutenant,” she said proudly, as he bowed instantly, his sides trembling from shock. “You’ve proven yourself more than capable of fast thinking and your ability to lead an army responsibly. From this day, Lieutenant Tempest would have to answer to you if I were out of reach.”

“Y-your majesty...” He mumbled, with his snout nearly touching the rocky ground. “It-It’s a great honor to be bestowed such a-”

“Oh raise up, my friend,” Deluge smiled, extending her talon to help him get up. He took it with his trembling talons, standing up again. “While I value you both, I noticed that Shore has better ability to work under extremely high pressure, especially in a battle environment and of course is much more experienced than you, Tempest.”

“I understand,” enormous SeaWing responded, smiling. “But hey, now we have something to celebrate about, Shorey, don’t we? Of course when we return the next cold one's on me!”

“Thank you Deluge… And you Tempest,” Shore said gratefully. “You are one of few dragons who can finally look over the fact that I’m not female. When we got you as the commander of the SeaWing forces you got rid of this stupid gender bias… It was so horrible to see my female clawmates who graduated the same year as me climb the ranks so quickly, no matter the ability, when I was stuck at sergeant until you noticed me...”

“You know, when I experienced the world it was just a logical thing to do after I took over this role,” Deluge said. “When it comes to the military roles male dragons are very often much more capable than females, and there’s no point arguing that. Maybe not necessarily in strength as I noted that it seems to be equal most of the time, but when it comes to fast decision making in the dangerous situations they are just better most of the time. Of course there are exceptions.”

The SeaWing princess nodded at Tempest, who smiled back at her. She was not holding any grudge against Deluge’s decision, judging by her reaction.

_I keep underestimating her… She knows her dragons and solved this dilemma masterfully. Tempest still sees Shore and Deluge as mentors so she is fine with them holding authority over her for the time being, while he got rewarded for enduring the bad treatment in the past as well as his expertise on the military matters..._

“I trust your judgment, your majesty,” Tempest said, while she struck her own chestplate with clenched talon.

“I swear I will do everything in my power to not let you down,” Shore added firmly, doing the same. “But as long as you are our commander I will follow your lead firmly.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” the SeaWing princess smiled warmly, as she looked directly at Delta. He nodded, walking out of the crowd to finally stand beside her. “So, having this out the way let’s talk about how we should actually proceed with our skirmishes.”

Delta almost fell asleep when Deluge began pointing to the mining settlements that assigned squadrons led by appropriate wing leaders will quickly attack, damaging the tunnels, freeing the prisoners and overall causing disruptions to the steady flow of iron SkyWings needed for their war effort, which will cause them to dispatch more soldiers to protect valuable strategic resource, overall drawing as much dragons out of the Highvalley as possible, preparing the ground for a winnable assault.

“Everyone knows what he or she should do?” Deluge asked her dragons, waking up Delta from his half-sleep. The murmur of the SeaWings followed. “You are free to go then, gather your troops and leave for designated locations as soon as possible and make sure to be done with the engagement before the sun rises! You are dismissed.”

All of the sea dragons, including Shore and Tempest, bowed before princess Deluge and swiftly left the cavern in an organised way, their weapons and armor rattling accompanying their march.

“Bloodfin is not joining us today?” Deluge asked, looking at him after they were the only dragons that remained in the cave.

“No. Her wound is not allowing her to fight in today’s battle, she might actually damage herself that way,” Delta responded looking up to her. She still had the bandage on her head, but something about her looked odd. He couldn’t tell what exactly but in some way her face looked more… Complete. He glanced at her horns, one of them once being half-broken, but… No… Now it seemed to be broken in two thirds of its length? Was it _regrowing_? She was moving her left arm now too, and got rid of her sling.

“Oh, my leg feels rather good now,” Deluge explained, seeing where he was looking. “And could you stop staring at me as if you saw some kind of whale-octopus crossbreed?”

“I’m just baffled how fast you are healing, my friend...” he responded carefully. “I mean… Even your horn, that you lost during a scavenger attack… It’s regrowing!”

Deluge frowned at him in confusion, but reached out to touch her horn, her expression getting even more bewildered as she moved her claws across newly regrown bone.

“What in the Moons!?” she exclaimed, knocking at her horn with her claws. “It’s not even artificial… It’s my own bone! M-maybe Vanilla has something that causes my permanent wounds to disappear? What- What if I won’t be ugly, despite what happened to my face..? Maybe even scars on my underscales will disappear too!? Delta, how do I look?”

She carefully unrolled the bandage on her head. Delta widened his eyes, seeing that her blue scales on her forehead seemed to be… Untouched, as if she was never wounded in the first place.

“I can’t see any scars,” Delta raised his brows.

She laughed in happiness, as several tears escaped her eyes. She threw the bandage on the rocky ground, and looked at Delta happily wagging her tail as if she was a dragonet again.

“In my humble opinion you’d always be beautiful, Deluge,” Delta noted, also smiling seeing how happy she was. “Your old scars give you some additional character.”

“Maybe some are acceptable, but I’d hate to be permanently disfigured,” Deluge responded, moving her talons across her forehead in amazement. “By the moons, I should freaking sink Vanilla in gold and gems...”

_Well, she’s a dragoness after all, it’s normal she wants to be pretty…_

Delta chuckled, trying to imagine how it’d go, since RainWings didn’t really care about precious treasures anymore, being more occupied with their flowers and gardens.

“P-princess Deluge?” an awkward male voice spoke from behind, nearly making Delta jump. “I agree with the terms Queen Blister presented.”

Seeing the SkyWing prince Delta instantly reached for his weapon, instantly switching to the aware state, but Deluge caught his talon in the middle of the motion. He looked at her in surprise.

“Why is he freely walking around?” he asked.

“How do you think he is going to escape,” Deluge rolled her eyes and let go of his arm. “It’s not like we’re underground and the only way out is through the swift underwater streams. It is much more possible that he’d sink in the process and he knows it.”

Delta relaxed and turned around to look at him. His eyes were nervously jumping between two SeaWings, as he probably considered the escape, seeing how close Delta’s talon was to his javelins. It still surprised him how such a horrified dragon was leading SkyWings to battle.

_Possibly Scarlet forced him to do such a thing, maybe in hopes that he’d die… She’s a truly horrible dragon, making that child nearly die..._

_At least he now accepted the SandWing offer, so maybe thanks to him the war will end faster, allowing me to finally live a peaceful life with my Bloodfin… I wish I could see Scarlet’s face when he’d sit on her throne… Ha!_

“That’s really good to hear, dear prince,” Deluge said cheerfully. “But you still came to find me just before I left for the mission so I assume you have some other pressing matter to tell me about too?”

“Well… Yes,” Prince Thunderhead responded nervously looking at his own talons. “I- I once fell in love with a girl who is the daughter of the overseer of the Gold Creek… Could you ensure that she won’t be harmed..? Or could you please bring her to me? She is named Copper, after her beautiful scales...”

_What is with all of those royals trying to marry someone from the lower class..? But maybe in the end nobility seems to be kind of boring. After all Deluge escaped the SeaWing court whenever she could, so I can see the certain reasoning._

“We’re actually going there, soo...” Deluge began and stroked her chin tendrils. “I will bring my Jade of Waterbreathing in case we happen upon her, alright?”

“I’d be in your debt forever, your majesty,” Thunderhead bowed respectfully. “Just please, bring her back safely to me...”

“Will do. You’ll have to excuse us however as we still need to move there, just about now, soo...” Deluge responded, trying to put on her helmet, which was not fitting her head anymore. After she lost her horn she ordered her armorers to make a helmet for her that would protect her horns too, as she didn’t want to lose them, but now after one of them began regrowing... She futilely tried to fit it once more, but she finally realised why it was unsuitable. SeaWing princess giggled and threw her helmet away as it bounced off the rocky ground several times.

“Oh screw it,” she smiled. “Why did my horn decide to regrow now!?”

“Umm… Good luck then, your majesty,” SkyWing prince said in confusion.

“Fetch the gemstone, Delta, while I will rally our troops,” Deluge ordered her friend, as she began to walk toward the exit leading to the huge main cavern. “Be quick about it, we have a battle to win!”

“And you get the spare helmet in the meantime!” Delta shouted back as he walked towards her tent.

_But really, going into the fray without a helmet could be extremely risky..._


	22. Deluge

The SeaWing princess picked up her richly decorated engraved halberd from the weapon rack and turned it around in her talons, examining the balance between the reinforced narwhal bone shaft and the heavy steel axe head, and nodded in appreciation of the skills of the SeaWing blacksmiths, feeling how easy the weapon was to handle, despite the weight. She still felt an odd tingling sensation in her left front talon, as she transferred the weight of her weapon to it, but at least it became usable literally overnight.

_ Hope I won’t be forced to use my weapon today. Perhaps the SkyWings will just surrender... _

She looked at her ten SeaWing soldiers now awaiting for her order to dive into the nearby flowing stream and swim into the fray. They all stood in the smaller cave connected to the main cavern, but this one had an underground stream that was leading to the one of the tunnels of the Gold Creek. She could give the order to move out now, but she needed to wait for Delta’s return with her Jade of Waterbreathing. She glanced over her dragon’s faces and placed the reinforced butt of the halberd on the rocky ground. Most of her SeaWings were calm, knowing their ability to fight and survive any circumstance, and being used to trust her command.

_ Halibut, Spearfish, Wave and the rest, unflinching as usual… But what about the young one..? _

She searched for the younger face of a ten year old green dragon who joined her unit fairly recently, his first battle being the one where they captured the SkyWing prince; and there he was, blankly staring at the ground, his legs slightly trembling, while his heavy spear was shaking, threatening to fall at the soldier beside him. Cobalt was glancing at him from time to time, she was visibly stopping herself from tangling her tail around his to comfort him.

_ Despite his harsh training that disciplined him to follow all orders under pressured circumstances, he seems to be rather shaken… Although that training might be the reason he is still breathing today. _

“Are you alright, Nautilus?” Deluge asked softly, looking at him with care; he jumped nearly letting go of his spear, looking at her with terror, as he hurriedly came out of the line, nearly falling over. “What happened? You are barely standing.”

“Y-your majesty, I-” he managed to mumble, as he looked at the ground. “I apologise, but-”

The SeaWing princess placed her weapon on the rack and slowly paced towards him, as he watched her with terror, speechless. She laid her talon on his trembling uptight shoulder covered by the black plate.

“It’s alright, son, there’s no need to apologise,” she spoke softly, putting her large royal wing over his back, while he opened his mouth in surprise. “Sit down, relax and breathe, that’s an order.”

He nodded and sat down, drooping his snout, visibly embarrassed by the attention of the SeaWing princess.

_ He has to be surprised, being now treated decently after the harsh training and discipline that was forced upon him earlier… But all soldiers need to go through this in order to ensure that they will obey their orders given to them in the battle, remaining focused and calm during it, which further increases the odds of their survival. That’s likely the reason we are speaking now. _

“I assume you just experienced your first battle, is that correct?” She asked him softly. He looked up to her and nodded. “So… It seems that war isn’t that glorious and adventurous as you expected?”

“N-no, your majesty,” he mumbled, looking down at his talons. “I- I killed a dragon… But.. That was it- a dragon… S-she wasn’t some kind of monstrosity… L-like it was described to us...”

_ Oh… His first kill… and first battle too. That’s why I hate war propaganda. It makes all those young dragons see this as some kind of adventure, or righteous fight against evil, while the truth is much more dirty and very often the complete opposite of the promised glory… But I guess queens need to somehow add some willing fresh meat into the grinder. _

“But you survived the engagement, and returned to the camp,” Deluge said carefully.

“In the battle I didn’t care much about it, as it was just a choice between my own life and theirs… But later when I began thinking about it…” he said and looked at Deluge with tears in his eyes. “ How I killed without much of a thought… I was horrified by the monster that was inside me...”

Deluge nodded and waved her talon, signalling him to continue.

“I- I don’t think I could continue living like that, your m-majesty,” Nautilus said mournfully. “It- It is not natural… To kill someone like that. I- I feel sickened by thinking about it.”

“And in my opinion this is a natural and good response of a dragon who has feelings and empathy,” Deluge said, gently grabbing his chin to focus his attention on her. “You are not an evil dragon. And you haven’t done anything wrong or morally reprehensible, Nautilus. I absolutely hate killing as well, but sometimes… It just has to be done.”

“But-” he began but she interrupted him.

“Do you know why we are even in this war?” Deluge asked him. “Why am I even fighting if I despise killing and brutality of the war itself?”

Nautilus shook his head.

“Because I want to end it as soon as possible so the suffering of the innocent dragons all across the world will cease,” Deluge explained. “If I can avoid killing the dragons, trust me I will always go for such an option, as you saw with what I ordered to do with the surrendered SkyWings. I don’t despise those dragons, only their evil ruler, and that’s why I let them go back to their families with the exception of those who are too far gone, being complete fanatics that would gladly lick Scarlet’s or Burn talons, if they could.”

“B-but… Some of those soldiers that we faced in battle...” Nautilus mumbled. “They were just unwillingly drafted, possibly despising the war and Scarlet as much as you do, your majesty… And in the battle we were killing them...”

“And trust me, my soul weeps for every single dragon like that...” Deluge said looking down at the ground in sadness. “But sadly there’s just no way to avoid such casualties, if we want to ultimately end the suffering of the dragons. We will widow their wives or husbands and orphan a lot of dragonets, but our greater goal is achieving peace. The bright future. Something that will hopefully make us wiser beings, and allow us to fight against igniting conflicts such as these in the first place, by solving them peacefully.”

“War is horrible...” Nautilus said.

“Yes, it is,” Deluge nodded as he looked up to her, with his face streaked in tears. “Trust me, Nautilus, I am willing to go far in order to return peace to Pyrrhia and secure a bright future not only for us. But for the SkyWings, MudWings, SandWings and even IceWings. They are as much dragons as you, me and everyone around us. A living beings, wanting to create, feel and love. All me and every other SeaWing in here wants is to bring back the peace and harmony back to the world. Tell me Nautilus, don’t you want to do the same, even if sometimes we will need to get our talons dirty?”

“I will do everything to stop this war,” he said firmly, wiping the tears from his snout. “T-thank you, your majesty, for making me realise what we are truly fighting for.”

She nodded, as he returned to his place in the line with newfound resolve, as another dark blue SeaWing named Cobalt whispered some words back to him, twining her tail around his. He weakly smiled back at her, as she nodded in approval, embracing him with her wing.

_ Huh… That’s good. Having soldiers in the unit that have a really tight bond between them ensures that they will always fiercely protect each other. _

She knew that she should discipline them for not standing in a tidy formation anymore, but it didn’t matter for now, as they were waiting for Delta’s return anyway. 

_ Besides, should I really interrupt such an important moment for both of those dragons? They feel almost like my family to me; family that I am sworn to protect and not needlessly risk their lives.  _

She suddenly felt a stab of pain in her heart. 

_ Sapphire. Silentskies. My real family. Why am I not back there with them, and instead I fight my sister’s war? _

Princess Deluge sighed, missing touch of Silentskies’ dark, delicate scales. The smile of tiny Sapphire she saw only when she was welcoming her back home. The dwindling hope in her eyes when she realised for the next time that Deluge won’t stay long in the Kingdom of the Sea with her. The sorrow that always came when she was leaving her as if her mother would never come back. Deluge’s sight got blurry.

_ What I wouldn’t give to hug my little Sapphire again to tell her that I’m fine, and I will soon come back to her… Like always... I miss her… But then… I have a duty. To the entire Kingdom. To Coral, Blister and even Moorhen. I need to fight this war to defend what I value the most. Safety of my family. Evil dragons being finally punished for their crimes. Protecting the innocent lives. Like Snowflare… I will save you, poor baby. And after I do that I will create a family for you that you deserve, to make up for the loss of your sister. I won’t let Blister or Coral touch you, we can win this war with conventional means, without sacrificing your soul, little one. When I see you I just see a dragonet who needs to be loved, doesn’t matter to me whether you are animus or not. I don’t mind how you even look! You are so beautiful in your own way… Like… Like…  _

She looked down at the ground in sadness, when the realisation hit her, as she felt another strong stab of pain in her heart. She clutched her armored chest with her front talon.

_ Dusk. My baby. _

A sudden flashback to her past she subconsciously tried to silence came back to her. Silentskies lifting up their second dragonet out of the egg. Blind. Silver tears behind his milky eyes. Missing hind legs. Ugly. Shivering from cold.

_ Doesn’t matter how hard I’d try to forget I still remember that relatively bright night, lit up by the two moons, one of which was full, when he reached out to me with his hopeful, loving and innocent little talons, possibly sensing my presence. Only to be met with my horrified expression, as I hugged sleeping Sapphire stronger, and turned around to distance myself from the one I initially failed to love. He didn’t have to see that; he had felt my rejection. Despite his father’s unconditional love, he was heartbroken by what I did to him. My baby’s heart couldn’t handle this. He began trembling and crying in Silentskies’ embrace as his dad desperately shouted for healers. Silentskies tried to push his claws gently onto his tiny chest to get his heart running again, while Dusk reached out to grab one of his fingers with his miniature talons, tears running down from his blind, milky eyes, almost accompanying the silver tears made out of scales. And then… My baby just stopped breathing and reacting to anything. He died... Because of me. _

She looked away from her soldiers to hide the tears that began running down her cheeks and pretended to thoroughly examine her halberd. The SeaWing princess almost missed the noise of metal plates rattling to someone’s fast pace, as she put talon over her eyes.

“What happened, Deluge?” a familiar voice asked softly, as she felt someone’s wing being put over her own with care, in a protective way to shield her from danger. It was Delta’s wing. “Shall we go to the side for a moment?”

She nodded mildly, allowing Delta to lead her outside of the cave where her soldiers waited. She couldn’t show them her tears, especially not before the battle. How could they follow a whiny commander?

When she felt Delta’s wings stop pressuring her back she opened her eyes to see an armored green dragon watching her with great concern. They were standing in the dark tunnel that led to the cavern with her soldiers.

“Delta… We need to find Snowy as soon as possible,” she whispered sadly. “The poor baby… He needs me. And I need him too.”

“We will eventually save him, but what happened?” he demanded, looking into her eyes worriedly. “You were happy just a moment ago and when I returned to you; you looked like you were mourning something.”

“You don’t understand, Delta… I finally realised why I felt such a weird subliminal connection with him,” the SeaWing princess began with her voice cracking from emotion. “I- I think he might be my son… The way he acted, how he wanted to be with me as soon as we met… How horrified he was when I wanted to let him go...”

Delta looked at her, as if she was not in her right mind, he quickly however changed his expression to more compassionate and caring as he twined his armored tail around hers.

“I understand that you were through a lot, Deluge. But… He is a pure SkyWing,” he said carefully. “While your son was a hybrid that, uhh… unfortunately passed away in his egg.”

“No he did not. I.. I killed him. I failed to welcome him into this world, which caused him to die from sorrow,” she mumbled, as Delta’s eyes widened. “But I believe that Snowflare is the reincarnation of him. I- I still can make up for what I did to him.”

“But… Deluge...” he whispered in shock. “What-? How-?”

“You think I’m crazy. Maybe you’re right,” Deluge said, looking up to him, as he stared at her absolutely horrified. “But I feel such a strong bond to that dragonet… It’s hard to explain, but deep down I know it is true. It’s just a mother’s feeling. You won’t understand.”

“How could you lie to me all this time?” Delta asked her with a trembling voice. “I thought… I thought we hid no secrets to each other!”

“I know, but… I just couldn’t bear the thought of something so horrible happening to my baby, and all of that because of me,” Deluge explained, her eyes getting wet from tears again. “Could you imagine living with such a burden as a mother? I just… Had to distance myself from that event to soothe the pain that otherwise would have killed me. But now? When I have the chance to redeem myself… I- I can make this right.”

Delta’s chin was trembling as he looked at her wide eyed. But soon enough his expression changed into a softer, compassionate one. He slowly walked closer to her and embraced her with his front talons, as she leaned her snout on his armored shoulder, her tears dripping on it with metallic tapping. Deluge felt that was what she needed right now, as his snout gently touched hers.

_ Just like when I broke my leg when we were dragonets, and he was not only the first one to approach me in shock, but also to help me up and he even had enough courage to immobilise my leg while trying to calm me down, despite the fact that even touching me could incur my mother’s wrath on him... _

“It’s alright, little sparkle. I understand,” He whispered to her ear. “I don’t know how I would react if I put myself in your scales… It’s just hard to even think about it… But about the SkyWing dragonet… If you really believe that this is true-”

“I do,” Deluge sobbed, burying her snout in his embrace.

“Then we will save him,” Delta whispered softly. “I understand that having such a massive emotional burden over you as well as recovering from injuries could be hard. You really need some rest, Deluge. Should I take over for this raid?”

“I believe you could, my friend, but...” Deluge began, wiping her tears with her front talon. “I have to do that. For Snowy. Every step I will make to save him needs to be made by me. I will make up for what I did to him in his previous life. His poor soul will finally find peace in my embrace.”

_ Should’ve gone to negotiate with the SkyWing rebels myself too… Carp is a capable dragon, but he didn’t receive half as good training in diplomacy such as I. But theoretically SkyWings should understand that, and maybe even have some understanding of our good intentions, we’ve spared their soldiers after all. I still ordered my soldiers to shred their wings… But it was for their own good, though not everyone may think like that... Moons, I hope I haven’t sent him to a certain death. _

“I understand Deluge,” Delta responded calmly, slowly letting her go. “Whatever you decide I will be there to protect you. Speaking of protection, where’s your helmet? I told you to get one.”

“There’s no time Delta,” Deluge responded. “We need to start swimming fast if we want to finish before sunrise, besides we will be only facing surprised SkyWing taskmasters and supervisors, the kind of which only used their weapon to beat their half dead miners, maybe with a skeleton crew of guards. Besides have you got the Jade?”

Delta frowned and untied his own helmet from his neck, handing it to Deluge.

“Yes I got it. But speaking of safety we will still be in the mine. And SkyWings are not exactly known for safety in their mines that run on prisoners. Even one stray stone that could fall from one of those unstable ceilings can kill you,” Delta forced his helmet into her talons. “Take it, right now.”

“But what about you-” she began, reluctantly taking the helmet into her talons.

“I don’t want to hear any objections, my job is to protect you,” Delta said firmly, wrinkling his snout harshly. “And besides, your life is much more important than mine, and don’t even try to deny it, my princess.”

“Alright, I get it,” Deluge responded, forcing it back to Delta’s head as he nodded. “I will go get my helmet right now.”

“And that’s what I wanted to hear, Deluge,” he said, as she turned around to quickly head to the armory, Delta quickly caught up to run beside her. “After all you won’t save him if you risk your life like that. You scared me so much already when you nearly… passed away the last time...”

He looked at her lovingly, while she gently twined her tail around his to comfort him as they moved through the dark tunnels to reach the main cavern.

_ I always feel safe near you Delta. You always comforted me when I needed it… You are like a brother to me. Maybe even more than that. So much more… Shark can’t hold a candle to you. _


	23. Firestorm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter took me so unimaginably long to publish, but I encountered a severe case of writer's block and got some small complications with the order of my chapters, but hey I got this sorted out now, so here you go!

Firestorm opened her eyes. Something woke her up. 

_What was I dreaming about?_

It was completely dark in her bedroom, only light that came was the one of the moon that streaked through the cloth curtains placed over the unglazed window. She yawned as the cold wind blew through it, making her shudder.

_Another nightmare. About Snowy too… Someone was torturing him, while hissing that his entire family is dead. Moons, I hope he’s fine, even if everything screams that he’s not. But… What can I do? I’m just an useless dragonet who can’t even prove her own identity, being so close to meeting her parents, yet so far..._

She swiftly uncovered herself from her blanket, carefully moving her foot with missing toes and she crawled slightly closer to the extinguished fireplace.

_It’s getting really cold, despite my inner fire… I shouldn’t be surprised though, Highvalley is really close to the Ice Kingdom. Nights can get extremely chilly._

Firestorm leaned over the edge of her mattress and threw a couple of small logs from the nearby basket into the hearth and breathed her fire, igniting them. Red dragonet reached out to warm up her talon near the cozy fire that just began to crackle happily, in defiance of the cold wind that was moving the curtains. She carefully crawled back under the blanket and huddled herself, brushing her wings across her sides to gain some warmth.

_It is so chilly here… I’d really love to be with Solstice again… And Albacore... To hear his stories, as he shielded us both from cold and rain… I wouldn’t be alone, freezing here. Where are they even? Maybe they’ve already forgotten about me and moved on..? Albacore just apologised to me when he escaped… He wasn’t promising to find me..._

She felt her eyes getting wet. As horrible as it sounded, it made sense.

_But do I even want Magma to find them, if it will be against their will to meet me again..? I’m just a worthless burden that can’t even walk on her own, why would anyone want to lug me around through the entire continent..? M-maybe it’s just better this way..._

Red dragonet sniffled and buried her snout under a soft pillow to drown out her sobbing.

 _And now I’m with strangers who don’t trust my identity… For them, I’m just no one… But maybe that’s true too… Without Snowflare I’m truly nothing and have nobody…_ _  
_ _I-I feel so lonely..._

“Where is he again!?” A sudden muffled shout from the room above Firestorm’s made her jump. “What in the all of three Moons are you talking about!?”

Red dragonet stopped sobbing and stuck her head from under the blanket.

“But no! I- I refuse to believe that!” voice shrieked again. “If this is true, we may not see the poor dragonet ever again!”

_Snowy. Someone is talking about him. Could this be…_

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest, while her breath quickened and her wings straightened, throwing the blanket off her back.

_By the Moons if those spies are telling someone where my brother is… This someone could be my mother. Just a floor above me. I could see m-my mommy… For the first time in my life… I-I can’t miss such an opportunity!_

She instantly crawled to the side of the bed and jumped down without thinking, but her legs weren’t able to support her body; she fell flat on the hard stone floor with a yelp of pain. 

_Right… My legs are still not working… But I need to somehow get to my mother..._

Still having tears in her eyes, she placed her two healthy talons and even her wing claws on the ground and tried to lift herself from the floor, but she failed to stand up having firm support only on the right side of her body. Gritting her teeth she carefully placed her bandaged left hind talon and numb front one on the ground and tried to transfer her weight to just three legs and her wings to avoid harming her toe stumps. Despite her efforts however she felt strong stinging pain where the stitches were as she raised her foot slightly above the stone. Hissing from pain she wobbly stood up for the first time in the last two weeks.

_It- It hurts so much… But I can see my mom… M-maybe she will recognise me and take me with herself..? For that any pain is w-worth it..._

Gritting her teeth, Firestorm carefully limped to the door and attempted to raise her right front talon, but she instantly lost her balance, accidentally bending her numb left front leg and she slammed her snout against the metal handle, falling into the dark corridor outside her room. Yelping quietly from pain she tasted her own bitter blood and spat out a broken tooth. She looked around herself in the dark corridor she was in. Nobody was present there, as all dragons were most likely in the room from where the muffled voices were coming from. Firestorm looked at her fallen tooth, lying on the first step of the stairs that led into the higher floor, where the faint light of the oil lamp was dimly lighting it up through the small gap in the doors on the far end of the corridor where dragons were talking.

_M-my tooth will regrow… No need to worry. But… The stairs. Why do the dragons even use the stairs? I have to somehow scale them. Mommy is up there._

Red dragonet wobbly stood up again, as blood slowly dripped from her snout. She carefully placed her numb talon on the first step and soon her wings and other talons followed, uncertainly climbing the next steps. Due to a stinging pain in her bandaged leg, scaling every single stair was a huge effort to the red dragonet, and halfway through them she was already breathing heavily from both fatigue and pain so she decided to take her time and rest, digging her claws into the wooden steps.

_Maybe I should just shout at them and my mom will come out? May be risky though, not sure how the potential guards could react to that… Or Magma… She seemed to be very angry last time, so I will just take my time and try to approach them carefully. Snowy would’ve done that._

Lying on the stairs she could finally understand the words the dragons were saying, as her breath slightly slowed down and her sides stopped shaking.

“...I only have your words,” the trembling female voice spoke. “What guarantee do I have that he’s with her? How can you prove to me that he’s _that?_ ”

_They… They know about his powers… Would my mom still love Snowflare after that..?_

“I came here for a reason. We have no use of trying to trick you into doing something dumb to further our own goals since they actually seem to be very much convergent. I believe you care about the future of Pyrrhia as much as we do,” a calm male voice answered. “We have an intel that confirms the dragonet's location and we even have the eyewitness to his abilities. Him being an animus can change the fate of countless dragons everywhere around the world. If his powers are misused by such a lunatic like Scarlet… We might all end up dead or enslaved by her. Don’t know what is worse, honestly. And besides I’m even now risking my life by warning you.”

“And if we’re found with you we can be executed as well, but...” female dragon answered with a cracking voice.”By the Moons… It’s just horrible,”

“Don’t worry we will save him,” another male dragon spoke trying to be calm, but the same nervous croon was hiding behind his reassuring words. “And even though he’s an animus… We just can’t stand idle while he’s in Scarlet’s talons. I believe we’re capable enough to-”

“No. We need help to save him,” female dragon responded. “Any support we can get is the asset that can’t be overlooked.”

Red dragonet opened her mouth in confusion.

_Scarlet..? Snowflare is with our queen? But why would mom be worried about that? Aren’t they on one side..? B-but if Scarlet will really try to use him to do something bad…_

“Are you really going to agree to work with them, despite what they did to our dragons?” a nervous male voice asked.

“This is war. Scarlet is doing far worse things to the captives than them. And they actually express desire to put an end to both of them.” Female dragon responded. “And in addition our action or inaction may end it… It very likely depends on us with what result it will end.”

“Can we count on mutual support?” the calm voice asked. “With your assistance we could mount a large scale operation targeted at Scarlet’s palace to free that dragonet. You can use your contacts or whatever cloak-and-dagger stuff that will come to your mind to get more intel regarding him, while we can provide the best suited soldiers for such hit and run strategy.”

“Scarlet will pay for that. Tell your superior that I agree with her plan, even having the SkyWing prince could work as a very good long term benefit, even if we're taking a risk… But despite what you said that she cares about Snowflare as much as we do, and is not planning to exploit him… We can’t entirely trust you. We’ll be watching your princess’ talons carefully,” female dragon responded wobbly. “Chillwind, could you order our dragons to come back to us at once?”

_I’m so dumb! They were against the queen all along! Chillwind, Magma, my mom, my dad, all of them are enemies to her! And are they talking… About prince Thunderhead..? Was my mom actually speaking to some SeaWing, not Chillwind? There are far more dragons in this room… Maybe there are two females speaking..?_

“All of them? What about that poor girl?” Chillwind responded. “You just dispatched several of our best dragons to find her guardian and that _IceWing_...”

_They really sent somebody to find Albacore and Solstice… Chillwind and Magma really cared..._

“Call them off. We need them for something much more important now,” Female voice demanded. “Raven, prepare your dragons for the action, you’re going to the Scarlet’s palace tomorrow. I will give you more details later.”

“Understood Magma,” another female dragon responded, but her voice was very similar to Magma’s. “I will do everything in my power to save poor Snowflare, no matter what.”

_Is Raven my mom..? Normal SkyWings should despise Snowflare for his powers… She really seems to care about him..._

“Then what do we do about Firestorm?” Chillwind demanded.

“Tomorrow you will take her to the closest orphanage,” Magma responded as Firestorm’s eyes widened in shock and she nearly lost her grasp on the wooden steps. “And you will leave her there. Do not mention her past, just tell the workers that her parents died as heroes. Nobody deserves to be brought back into those dragonet soldier units.”

Firestorm felt a cold chill running down her spine. She quickly began thinking in desperation.

_Raven is my and Snowflare’s mom. I need to get her attention, so she will take me with herself, or I will have no chance at meeting either my family or Albacore and Solstice ever again!_

“But… Magma,” Chillwind began. “She’s just-”

“Listen Chillwind, Snowflare is much more important than her,” Raven(or Magma) responded. Firestorm started crawling up the stairs again with her talons trembling from the effort. She needed to get up there as fast as possible. “She’s just a random dragonet and if she will get someone who will take a good care of her-”

“Good care!? Do you even realise how much orphans this war creates!?” Chillwind growled angrily. “Nobody will be able to take good enough care of her in those overcrowded orphanages, especially after she first of all saw and experienced the horrors of war herself! I was in her room when she slept! I heard how she sobbed and writhed calling the names of her fallen friends in her nightmares! Your lie about her not being a dragonet soldier will be discovered as soon as she goes to sleep there!”

Firestorm felt tears running down her cheeks as she stopped advancing up the stairs. She remembered her dreams about the horrible day of the battle. And other terrible memories she experienced, even before her first skirmish. Other dragonets coming back into the camp, but very often missing parts of themselves… Either physically or mentally. Or very often both.

_And now I’m the only known survivor… Not counting Snowy, but… If Scarlet uses his powers… He may lose his soul and deprive himself from the reincarnating ever again… And that’s a fate which is much worse than death. And now I will be most likely forced to come back into Queen’s Children… And without Snowy too… I’m dead._

She wanted someone to take her away from those accursed stairs, as she covered her ears with her wings. She naively wanted to shield herself from what Magma was saying, as if it could prevent the consequences of her decision.

“Maybe, but we have no means of keeping her there,” Magma (or Raven) reasoned, her hissing voice still pierced through Firestorm’s wings, despite her efforts to stick her wing claws in her ears. “Besides why do you care so much about her?”

“And why do you not?” Chillwind snarled angrily. “Do you want this innocent dragonet to be back into the army where she’d very likely die within a week due to her current condition!?”

_What am I even doing!? M-my very life is hanging on a thread, and I won’t help it if I huddle myself in a corner like a craven… I-I need to do something..._

Red dragonet uncovered her head and placed her wings on the stairs and began to crawl up them again. She was just several steps from reaching the top.

“As I said earlier, we have no means of maintaining her here. We’re already running low on our resources, and we just can’t allow ourselves to have such unnecessary expenses,” female voice responded angrily. “And besides she’s just another nameless dragonet without a family. There are hundreds of cases like that, and we just simply can’t help every single one of them, unless we want to rebrand ourselves to some kind of dragonet orphanage or something.”

“Sometimes I’m really questioning what in the Moons I ever saw in you,” Chillwind sighed. “Magma, I’m not asking for all dragonets, just for her… She’s suffered enough. She needs someone who will truly provide her some solace in all of this...”

“And who is this someone then? You and I need to very often leave and sometimes this house is abandoned for weeks. She needs someone to tend to her needs, bring her food every day and at the same time she can’t provide anything to us! She can’t read, write or serve as our messenger! She can’t even walk now! She’s useless!” Female voice hissed, while Firestorm felt as if every word was a stab in her gut. “If someone wants to stick with us, she needs to provide something or she’s out and I’m not willing to make an exception for her from this rule. Tomorrow you’re taking Firestorm to an orphanage. And I don’t care about what happens to her after that. If she’d be an useless cripple for life, maybe it’ll be just better for her to die quickly and later reincarnate as someone valuable, and I wish her good luck in her next life.”

Firestorm stopped in her tracks as the silence befell upon the room the dragons were in. Red dragonet looked down at her numb talon, hanging uselessly from the side of the step.

_She- She is absolutely f-fine with my death..? But I don’t want to d-die… I just- I just can’t leave Snowy alone… And I’m scared of dying… Even if I will be reborn… My memories about Snowflare will be completely gone… I don’t want to lose him forever… I- I need to make my mother recognise me, or I will just..._

Gritting her teeth she looked up, just to see the face of surprised bright red dragoness, having multiple golden necklaces hanging both from her neck and being twined around her horns. She was standing in the doors that were widely opened now.

_Raven. As Magma said “Golden jewelry hanger”. She has to be blue-blooded if she has so much jewelry. She is my mom. She has to be._

“R-rav-” Firestorm began, but stopped as adult SkyWing raised a single claw to her lips in a gesture to keep quiet. Raven carefully closed the door with her tail and raised the oil lamp that was hanging from her left talon and walked down the stairs to stand in front of the red dragonet.

“Now, now, what are you doing there, young lady?” she asked politely but despite all of this her voice had unsettling and sharp hiss to it that made Firestorm shudder. “Nobody taught you that you shouldn’t eavesdrop when the adults are speaking?”

“I-I just… I thought that-” Firestorm stuttered desperately. “I thought my mom was up there and I j-just… W-wanted to see her- I t-think that you’re my mom… I’m Snowy’s sister and-and...”

Raven’s eyebrows shot up instantly as she looked up at the wooden ceiling and she shook her head, her necklaces rattling against each other.

_Moons, that was so bad..._

“Unfortunately I’m not, young lady. First of all, I never had dragonets, second, while you’re similar looking, Snowflare’s sister had a different name in the documents, and in fact some dragons might find it really insulting that you try to impersonate her,” Raven looked down on the red dragonet, wrinkling her snout, as Firestorm began feeling odd emptiness in her stomach.

_She’s not my mother. Maybe she’s still in the room..? I need to see her… She would have to recognise me!!!_

“Speaking of which... Magma!” Adult SkyWing shouted, her necklaces rattling at her every syllable.

As Raven called for the dragon Firestorm was scared of since their last encounter, her green eyes widened in terror. Red dragonet covered herself with her wings, pushing them strongly against her snout, almost as if she could sink into the ground and just disappear, whimpering in fear. She felt someone’s talon being slid under her chest and it brutally picked her up, despite her claws being dug into the stairs. She closed her eyes, as someone pinned her down against the leveled floor, covered with carpet.

“What have you heard!?” a furious voice hissed, someone’s cold claws caught Firestorm by her throat which made her yelp in terror. “LOOK AT ME AND ANSWER!!!”

Her body started shaking while she opened her green eyes. Magma’s snout was uncomfortably close, smoke rising from her nostrils, her teeth exposed in a predatory manner. Several other dragons including Chillwind stood behind Magma in near darkness, watching the dragonet in surprise. Adult SkyWing tightened her iron grasp and shook her small body.

“What have you heard!?” Magma hissed breathing her sulphur smelling smoke at the dragonet, making her cough.

“I- I… Heard you talking a-about m-my broth-,” she choked out in terror, but feeling Magma’s grasp tightening even more as well as her snout wrinkled angrily, Firestorm altered her words. “About S-snowy… A-and the S-seaWings… You are w-working with them… P-please, don’t l-leave me in the orphanage...”

As soon as she mentioned the sea dragons, Magma’s remaining eye widened as she looked back at Chillwind, who closed his eyes, drooping his snout.

“Now I clearly can’t do that… Moons, I hoped I wouldn’t be forced to do this” Magma sighed, looking back at the dragonet with sadness in her eye. “I promise I will do this quickly.”

“R-really..?” Firestorm mumbled in disbelief. 

_Was that going to be so easy? She’ll just allow me to stay until they find Snowflare..? If she did so, I could still meet my parents… And him of course._

Magma let go of dragonet’s throat, allowing her to look around the corridor leading to the room where the meeting took place. A SeaWing was looking at her with curiosity from the inside of it. He was wearing black cloak on his lime scaled shoulders. As unlikely as it seemed from the context, Firestorm was hoping deep down that he was Albacore up until this moment. 

_Shame I won’t see Solstice ever again though… I wish him to find his mom, and that she will still love him… So he can get at least some happiness in this world after the loss of his wing, even if chances are we won’t meet each other ever again..._

_But wait, what was that “quickly” part about?_

“Wha-”

“I’m sorry, young lady,” Magma interrupted her and before Firestorm could react Magma suddenly jabbed something towards dragonet’s throat. Small SkyWing gasped, noticing the dagger being held by Magma, just several centimeters above her vulnerable golden underscales. One-eyed SkyWing growled, trying to pull it downwards, but another dragon’s dark red talon prevented such movement from occurring.

“What are you doing!?” Magma snarled angrily, while Firestorm stared at the blade wide-eyed. Red dragonet wasn’t able to move a muscle, despite everything telling her to writhe away and run.

“I have the same question to you, my love,” Chillwind growled, firmly holding Magma’s forearm.

“Tying up loose ends. If information that we work with _them_ gets out of this house our entire operation in Sky Kingdom is done for,” Magma snorted out, jets of smoke escaping her nostrils. “And dead dragons rarely speak.”

“Well, dead dragons indeed rarely speak, but what if she wouldn’t leave this house? At least for the time being?” Chillwind hissed. Firestorm couldn’t look away from the sharp blade, shaking just above her throat. “Do you really want to spill the blood of this innocent dragonet? Do you want this moment to haunt you for your entire life? Magma, I know you don’t want to do this.”

“True… But there’s no other option. We can’t have her in here.” she responded, grabbing Firestorm’s throat with her steel talons to stop her from crawling away. Red dragonet squawked in horror, while Magma managed to lower the blade, despite Chillwind’s efforts. “She has to die.”

“M-mom!” Firestorm called over to the room with the SeaWing.

“Shut up!” Adult SkyWing hissed furiously.

“Magma, what would he think of you if you killed her?” Chillwind snarled, trying to get the dagger as far from Firestorm as it was possible, but Magma was clearly getting an upper hand. “Do you want him to reject you because of that? They were really close.”

“He wouldn’t know...” One-eyed SkyWing’s snout began to blur. Tears started running down Firestorm’s cheeks again.

“I would tell him-” Chillwind began, but then Magma managed to overpower him. The dagger was forced down straight towards Firestorm’s throat. Small SkyWing shrieked, closing her eyes as Magma’s sharp blade dug deeply into its target with a loud thump. Firestorm’s entire body was shaking from stress, but she felt no pain. Not even the slightest impact of the blade piercing her underscales, or the blood suffocating her. She felt nothing, except the horrible chill from her own fear.

_Am I dead..? Is it all over..?_

Firestorm opened her eyes. Chillwind was looking down on her with a soft expression. Red dragonet looked to the side. Dagger was dug so deep in the wooden floor that only the handle was visible, still unnervingly close to her neck. Firestorm finally realised that she was holding her breath, up until this point and she began breathing quickly, her body still shaking from stress.

“Take her back to her room for now,” the Magma hissed, letting go of dragonet’s throat. “We’ll discuss this matter later. Preferably without **any** unwanted listeners or impersonators.”

_I am alive, but… She really wanted to kill me… I could’ve died!_

Firestorm broke into frantic sobbing and covered her snout with her only usable front talon. Someone gently sat her up.

“Shhhh, it’s alright, Firestorm. You’re safe now,” Chillwind whispered softly, laying his cold wing on her back. Firestorm folded her wings and looked up to him. He placed the oil lamp on the floor and embraced her gently. “I wouldn’t ever let her kill you. Moons, what happened to your snout?”

Chillwind gently opened her mouth and sighed.

“Your fang is knocked out...” he said, and looked at the lower floor. “You tripped and fell… I told you not to use your legs for now.”

“W-why does Magma hate me so much..?” Red dragonet sobbed, glancing at the Magma who came back to the meeting room with her other SkyWings and after the latest entered, she closed the door with her tail. “I- I just wanted to meet my mommy...”

“Poor baby… You really believe that you’re Snowflare’s late sister...” Chillwind said, gently wiping her tears with a small cloth. “Moons, even if you were her, trust me, you'll wish you weren't. Especially after what you just saw.”

Firestorm widened her eyes, her mouth opening. She felt as if something heavy just hit her chest.

_Did he just implied that-_

“Shh, forget about it,” Chillwind added nervously. “Let me just carry you back to your room. Magma is angry enough already.”

“B-but-” Firestorm began, but Chillwind smothered her words with his talon.

“Please forget about it,” Adult SkyWing demanded. Red dragonet sighed and nodded hesitantly. Chillwind placed his talon back on the ground. “Thank you. I’ll now pick you up, is this alright?”

“Y-yes,” she responded, her voice still being shaky. Adult SkyWing gently lifted her with just one of his talons and put her on his back, carefully making sure not to hurt her bandaged foot. He slowly walked down the stairs and into Firestorm’s room.

_He just said that Magma is Snowflare’s mother… It would make sense that she’s so angry at me if she really believes that I’m dead. But... If Magma is my mother, it means that Chillwind is my father… They are both very strong dragons, so..._

Firestorm embraced Chillwind’s back. One of her talons touched his cold underscales.

_But what if Chillwind is in fact not my dad..? He’s half-IceWing. I don’t have any IceWing features, I look like a pure SkyWing… Snowy in the meantime… That could explain his scale color and the fact that he’s not fireless despite of it..._

Chillwind closed the doors and lifted her from his back, despite her grasp, gently laying the dragonet on the soft bed. Firestorm’s eyes widened in horror when the realisation hit her.

_B-but… What if Snowflare is not my brother..? What if my entire life was a lie..? Maybe I’m truly a misguided nobody… A-and Magma’s rage and hatred towards me is justified… I very likely insulted the memory of her real deceased daughter… M-maybe I shouldn’t be here… Snowy already has a family that really wants to find him, while I’m just nothing... I want to come back to Albacore and Solstice… I miss them so much… I-I need someone who will take me in… Especially now when Magma can just decide t-to slit my throat..._

“I’m so sorry that you had to experience that,” Chillwind said, covering Firestorm with a blanket. “Unfortunately I have to leave you-”

“No!” Firestorm shrieked in panic, catching his talon before he was able to withdraw it. “Chillwind please, d-don’t leave me alone! W-what if Magma will come here to kill m-me in my sleep..? I-I’m so scared...”

He looked at her with sadness. He placed his other talon on hers, sitting down near her bedding.

“I assure you I will do everything in my power to convince Magma otherwise, sweetheart,” he whispered.

“Chillwind, please...” Firestorm sobbed. “I don’t want to die… I just want to meet my real family… Or at least to see Albacore and Solstice... And to see Snowy again… I miss him as much as you do… He was so kind to me… Even if he’s not my brother… I loved him as if he was one...”

“If that will make you feel safe, I can stay for one night in your room, my little zephyr,” he said, embracing her. Despite his scales feeling cold, their touch felt as soothing and reaffirming just as Solstice’s. “And I’m so sorry that Magma couldn’t keep her word about finding your guardian. If it depended on me, I would’ve gone to find him myself. You’ve suffered too much already, Firestorm. I’ll guard you, at least tonight.”

“Thank you, Chillwind...” Dragonet said, wiping the tears from her snout. Chillwind withdrew and laid down on the floor near the cozy fireplace and began his watch.

_But w-what about my every other remaining day here..? W-what if Chillwind would have to go somewhere? M-magma could kill me then without any issue..._

She huddled herself on the bed, moving an uncomfortably placed numb talon that she unknowingly laid under her pillow.

_But maybe that will be just better for everyone. Chillwind now exposed himself to Magma’s anger, because of me. Albacore needed to parley with Magma to heal my dying leg, but that nearly got Solstice killed and Albacore is now wounded, Moons know how severely. I’m just an unnecessary trouble for everyone who meets me…_


	24. Deluge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to check out TaccoWriter's fanfic "Winglet: Isolation", if you like SeaWings! It is a very enjoyable read!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/25528810?view_full_work=true

_Three Moons, when does this end?_

Deluge huffed impatiently as she swiftly swam through the another sharp turn of the seemingly endless tunnel, glaring into the empty circular void of it that allowed her to see only around five meters forward, despite her brightly lit scales. She had to light them, since the SeaWing night vision couldn’t allow her to see in complete darkness. She felt tired and her muscles, having a long break from such a workload, started aching her.

_I need to hold on a little longer. For Snowy. For my little baby._

She looked down at her compass she held in her talon but it went completely crazy, it’s needle spinning around chaotically.

_We’re getting close. Iron ore deposits around here are magnetised after all._

She slightly dimmed her bioluminescent scales, as the light of her soldiers behind subsided as well. She swiftly passed the next turn in the tunnel, which revealed that the corridor transitioned to being much more spacious, even allowing Deluge to surface for the first time since the last two hours. She carefully decelerated and caught the rocky wall nearby to completely stop herself as her soldiers did the same, digging their own claws into the stone. Suddenly the water began tasting… Odd. Something between sour and fizzy, even getting somewhat near alcoholic taste. Someone slightly pulled Deluge’s tail to draw her attention. She looked at the green dragon she loved like a brother.

“ _Have we reached the mine already?_ ” Delta asked, flashing the scales on his snout and wings.

“I _believe we did,_ ” she responded in Aquatic, frowning as the taste began to be nauseatingly sour. “ _Keep your scales dark, we don’t know what’s above the water_.”

_Gosh, what in the Moons they are dumping down there? What sort of waste does the mine even produce?_

Delta nodded as she carefully raised her own head above the surface. But then the horrible stench of rotting flesh struck her so strongly that she nearly returned her breakfast. She looked to the source of the smell just to notice a large pile of corpses in various stages of decomposition lying near the body of water, either mixed or spoiled purple blood flowing from them into the stream she was in. SeaWing princess put talon on her snout, trying to fight off nausea. IceWings, SandWings, MudWings and even SeaWings were lying on each other like some kind of grisly puppets strewn around by the spoiled dragonet after she got bored with them. Deluge’s heart sank as she noticed that some of the corpses were so small that there was a strong possibility of dragonet victims.

_Dead war prisoners. That’s what they are dumping there. After they’ve worked them to death, they just dump them here. So much wasted lives… I swear, Scarlet will pay for this one day._

Deluge stretched her fireproof cloth over her snout to smother the overwhelming odor.

_By the Moons, let’s just proceed as soon as possible through this cavern. After all we’re here to shut down this operation..._

Their stream was flowing through the bottom of the mineshaft, as Deluge noticed the natural stone bridge, faintly lit by the oil lamps stringed above it. Even if someone was looking directly down at Deluge and her soldiers there was too dark and too deep in there for someone to see without SeaWing night vision. She sweeped with her tail underwater to signal her soldiers to surface as well, and soon enough armored heads joined her. Delta cursed quietly when he noticed the corpses. Deluge carefully climbed onto the cave floor, avoiding the corpses with disgust, as her eleven accompanying SeaWings did the same, trying to make it as quiet as possible.

“T-there’s at least thirty of them here...” one of her soldiers noted with a trembling voice.

_Nautilus._

“Keep quiet and put the cloth over your snout,” Deluge hissed quietly. “It helps with the smell.”

Suddenly she heard the commotion above her head. Someone was walking towards the stone bridge, from the tunnel on the left side.

“...Prisoner revolt!? And you really thought it was a good idea you IceWing piece of trash!?” a furious voice echoed through the cavern and was followed by the thump and a yelp of pain. “Possibly you are wondering where we are leading you. Do you want to see what happened to your _brave_ followers, you coward!?”

Deluge drew the waterproof map detailing the layout of the mine from her satchel and unrolled it.

_If they are leading that IceWing from the main cave complex we are currently on one of the deepest levels. I guess I would like to distance myself from the dead bodies too, if I were SkyWing. And there was a prisoner revolt here too. It could mean that either guards are less numerous, some of them being killed, or they’ve already received reinforcements which can make our mission harder or even impossible._

She looked up again to see that two SkyWing guards were holding the IceWing over the ledge, forcing him to look down. The ice dragon had smoking chains wrapped around his snout, his own blue blood was streaked all over his body.

“Oh, it is very dark down here, but I’m sure you will be able to take a look when you are closer,” one of the guards, male one, snorted out sarcastically, nearly making him fall into the pit. “But I guess you can already tell by the smell.”

“J-just end it...” IceWing mumbled under the chains. “And let me join my little baby...”

“As you wish,” another guard responded, possibly a female, and threw him over the ledge. He tried to release his chained wings to slow down his fall and it partly succeeded, as they carried him far enough for him to dig his serrated front claws into the stone wall on the other side. He held onto it, breathing heavily from the effort, but his hind legs couldn’t find the stable support, flailing over the chasm desperately.

“Ohh, it seems that our IceWing hasn't completely melted after all,” female SkyWing laughed. “I guess we could correct that!”

Two SkyWings took off and soared towards the struggling IceWing. He tried to turn around and breathe his ice at them, but it failed resulting in harmless smoke that engulfed one of the guards, while the other flew a little bit further back.

“Rude!” SkyWing who was closer responded. “I thought our overseer taught you some discipline! I can correct that too!”

She swiftly stabbed her dagger into IceWing’s palm, making him scream. He let go of the wall with one of his talons. He was barely holding on. The SeaWing princess hid her scroll back into the satchel.

_If I ever questioned whether some SkyWings are truly irredeemable this truly proves it. Disgusting sadists. We need to save that IceWing. He may have some information about the guards and the layout of the mine. Especially if he was a leader of the uprising, he had some sort of plan, but it failed somewhere… We can provide another chance for prisoners._

“Delta, you take out one further behind and I go for the other one,” Deluge quietly hissed, drawing her javelin from the quiver. “Everyone else, if IceWing falls, make sure to catch him.”

The SeaWing princess turned the fletched throwing spear in her talons and raised it, aiming at her target.

“Ready,” Delta whispered from the side.

“Now,” Deluge responded and threw her javelin at the SkyWing who laughed at the IceWing who was sobbing from pain. Suddenly the laughter got cut off by the noises of two thumps as both SkyWings began falling motionlessly to the cave floor. Deluge slightly moved away as her target crashed into the ground, wooden shaft sticking from her chest, her face frozen in surprised expression. Deluge swiftly took off and flew straight towards the IceWing, while carefully watching the tunnel entrances. Nobody seemed to be close. She approached the IceWing from behind and caught him with her front and hind legs. He was shivering from fear and pain, while Deluge grasped him.

“Calm down IceWing, I mean no harm to you,” she said quietly, slowly lifting him off the wall and carefully descending into the dark void. 

“W-who are you..?” he asked weakly.

“I’m Princess Deluge of the SeaWings-” she began as he started to writhe in her grasp. “Calm down! Why would I save you if I intended to kill you straight after?”

“B-but-” he began. “You are SeaWing serving under Blister! We are enemies!”

“But despite this you’ve still united with other prisoners, some of which were possibly my kin, to free yourself from the SkyWings,” Deluge responded, looking for a clean place to land. She couldn’t allow any infection to get into his wounds. “I bet you know the saying enemy of my enemy is my ally, right? At least for the time being.”

“I only allied with them only because I required assistance against a common enemy,” he hissed at her weakly. “But now when you’ve appeared, you are the enemy. You serve Blister.”

“Why do you keep insisting that I’m your enemy? We could really help each other out.” she sighed, dropping him slightly harder than she intended on the clean piece of ground. “But if you want to be my prisoner, I guess it’s fine.”

He was lying on the ground where the SeaWing princess dropped him, his white sides trembling both from fear and pain. Delta swiftly approached him, squinting his eyes suspiciously.

“Delta, pull the dagger out of his palm and sanitise his wound. See, I don’t have any ill intentions, IceWing. All I want is to get rid of the SkyWings as well. We are allies, for now,” Deluge said, landing beside the IceWing. “Tell me how often guards go in here? Are we in danger?”

IceWing raised his snout from the ground and looked towards her, trying to see in complete darkness, as Delta grabbed his wounded talon.

“I don’t want to be in _SeaWing’s_ debt,” he groaned. “It’s just wrong… The rankings prohibit-”

“Your rankings are not really working down here. Unless of course I’d fly to your Ice Kingdom and tell the queen that you were naughty,” Delta growled at the IceWing. “Besides I believe your own existence might be worth a little bit more than some dumb number between the hundreds of other IceWings. If SkyWings find us, you are the first one to die, so please answer the princess’ questions without unnecessary talking back at her, unless you want me to reapply the dagger elsewhere. Very likely straight into your haughty, ungrateful ass.”

IceWing shivered and looked down at the ground.

“So, how often do guards go in here? Are we in danger?” Deluge asked once more, this time with a slight smile, under her cloth.

_Well, that's one way to put down an IceWing...  
_

“No. They just dump bodies of _used_ or disobedient miners here,” IceWing mumbled, trying to gaze at Deluge through the dark, as she removed the smoking chains from his burned snout. “I was the last one from the revolt. They… They made me watch the executions of everyone who was involved in it. I- I was supposed to join them. I believe we are safe for now, these two monsters were the only guards stationed on the lower levels.”

Deluge reached out to her belt and uncorked the canteen, handing it to IceWing.

“I bet they weren’t really bothering with an acceptable rations for you. Here. It’s cold water. Drink,” she raised it to ice dragon’s maw and he followed her order gratefully, his muscles instantly relaxing. “Tell me, how many guards are stationed here? How well guarded is the entrance? Are there other prisoners? If so, where are they?”

“Normally there were thirty guards. I believe you got two, and since in revolt we’ve killed or wounded around ten… I think that leaves about eighteen. Replenishments haven’t and won't arrive until the next week, but new prisoners will be delivered in a few hours,” he responded, wincing from pain caused by Delta’s help, after Deluge tied back the empty canteen to her belt. Delta was currently twining a fresh bandage around IceWing’s front talon. “At least five guards at the entrance. It’s far, but… I know the shortcuts. We’ve planned to use them to escape with the others, but we were stopped at the entrance. Last time it was guarded by eight well equipped guards. From outside the gate is impregnable and could be defended for a long time, but from the inside… We thought we would be able to make it… They proved us otherwise. And… There was a one cave on the way to the entrance that was literally called a _sleeping cave_ … The “miners” are there when they are not being worked to the death, which is rare, so most of them will be all over the place.”

“Are there… Dragonet prisoners too?” Deluge asked, but one glance at the pile of the corpses made this question pointless. Several tiny bodies covered by blood were lying motionlessly on the ground. Three MudWing, one SeaWing and four IceWing dragonets, not older than five years. All of their snouts frozen in expressions of pain, fear and terror. The SeaWing dragonet was holding two smaller IceWings in her grasp, trying to protect them, but the cruel SkyWing spear pierced straight through all three of them. Looking at their small, young bodies, Deluge’s heart felt as if that spear was piercing it as well.

_At least the IceWing can’t see them. It is truly a horrible sight to behold..._

“Yes,” Ice dragon nodded grimly. “The overseer did not care about the age of the workers… She was only interested in how much ore they can extract.”

_Poor dragonets… None of you deserved that… By the Moons I swear I will avenge you._

“That overseer is a dead dragon when I find her,” Deluge hissed, curling her talons into fists. “What SkyWings are doing down here… This is a war crime. No, it’s worse… It’s a crime against all dragonkind. Me and my soldiers are here to kill the overseer, free the prisoners and hinder the entire operation that is going on here.”

IceWing did not respond, just stared at the ground blankly. 

“Can I ask y-you about something, princess Deluge?” IceWing asked quietly after a moment of silence.

“Of course...” the SeaWing princess began and paused. “What is your name?”

“My name is Hoarfrost. Fourth circle when and a lieutenant of the Silver Host,” he responded, bowing apologetically. “I can smell death. I know that SeaWings can see in the dark. Could you p-please tell me… Is my little girl down here..? She is or w-was, such a small and sweet dragonet. Blue eyes, white scales, glittering like snow, but she had bright blue underscales, and her talons were deep blue like the dark depths of our northern sea. Her name was Shimmer… Her scales were always glittering so beautifully in the moonlight...”

Deluge hesitantly looked at the corpses with a heavy heart. She counted four dead IceWing dragonets, one of them was female. She had her throat slit, lying motionlessly on the stone, her body horribly twisted and broken, very likely the reason being the fall from the height from which she was dropped… The SeaWing princess gulped loudly, and stared into the widely opened eyes of the dragonet. She looked as if she was still alive… If not for her broken spine and dried up blue river once flowing from a wide gash in her throat. In the dark her white scales stained with blue blood looked almost like Sapphire’s. Deluge gagged at the thought of it.

_No. My little Sapphy is safe with Silentskies. He’d rather die than let her be harmed like that. He really loves her, and if he believes something is really threatening her, he’d never leave her side._

Despite her reassuring thought she couldn’t bear the sad sight of the dead dragonet. She looked away, just to meet Delta’s caring gaze. He nodded and wordlessly walked towards the dragonet's corpse instead of her.

“Thank you, my friend,” the SeaWing princess said gratefully, wiping her eyes with her talon.

_Although my love mentioned that my mission might threaten their safety… Moons and I just shrugged it off like it was nothing. After an attempt on my own life and nearly successful one at that!_

She gulped loudly and looked once more at the dead dragonets.

_What if- What if his care won’t be enough..? If the assassins will get into my palace, despite the guards..? He can’t fight very well, nor he’s strong, I even managed to overpower him straight after I was seriously wounded when he cared for me after the incident with those scavenger pests..._

“What’s happening?” Hoarfrost asked, his voice getting shaky and his eyes trying to pierce the unbreachable darkness. “Is… Is she-”

“No, that’s not her. This one has white underscales,” Delta said, rolling the corpse over it’s back. “There’s still hope for your dragonet.”

_Silentskies is a very highly qualified spy, and even his sister, while suspicious, was a former assassin. If he’s incapable of defending maybe she’d do well in this regard. While I hate the idea of relying on someone else when it comes to my family’s safety I have no choice… And there are other dragons that are in need of protecting. I’m here to save the lives of those innocents. And to punish those murderers… They were able to kill dragonets even smaller than my sweet Sapphire… They need to die. And I won't stop until all of such dragons are rightfully punished, I swear._

“T-thank the Moons,” the IceWing breathed a sigh of relief. “And… Thank you, your majesty. I just couldn’t look at it when the SkyWings just brought all of the dragons affiliated with the uprising here, to kill them… They started with dragonets… And made everyone watch… As all of their young lives were being slowly extinguished, one by one...”

_How can someone be so cruel..? Those poor dragonets haven’t even gotten a chance to live… Instead all of their hopes and dreams ended with a slash of the dagger and now they lie buried under the cold and uncaring mountains… And to make matters worse, their families were forced to watch the demise of those they failed to protect..._

Deluge did not respond, instead just looked at the mildly lit stone bridge far above her head. She felt her talons unconsciously scratching against the rocky ground, while her breath slowed down, her lungs felt almost as if they could tear out her ribs. Her blood felt as if it was almost boiling in her veins and a growl even started shaking her throat.

_All of the SkyWings that took part in this will pay. I won’t let this slide. I won’t be as merciful as the last time. Moons, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to use my weapon today, but I’m not letting those monsters get away with this! They will die, knowing that what they did will be the cause why they will never be able to be hatched in this world again! I will- I will leave their bodies to rot, without any access to their beloved sky, they will wither away in darkness and cold, their flames of hatred and cruelty extinguished and buried forever under the rocks, never to be unearthed again!_

Her entire body was shaking, her talons scratching against the rocks. She wanted to instantly fly up and slaughter those murderers all by herself. Every drop of blood they spilled repaid in kind… Delta placed his talon on her shoulder. She felt his wings gently brushing against hers. His calm and comforting touch made her muscles slowly relax.

_He’s right I need to cool off… I can’t lead my soldiers if my emotions take over me like that. If I flew up there, roaring and clawing, I could be realistically dragged down and killed in seconds. Frienzied suicide woudn’t help anyone. I need to calm down and think for a second…_

She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes briefly, placing her talons on the ground.

_Vengeance can wait. There are very likely other prisoners that can still be spared from the fate of the dragons down here. Hoarfrost’s daughter is presumably on the higher levels of the mine. And other innocents that can still be saved. If we charge at the SkyWings, a lot of prisoners will get killed. They can even use our SeaWings as hostages… The later we get discovered, the better. The best would be to surprise the guards and eliminate the most of them as fast as possible. In those tight tunnels it is really easy to form barricades and holdouts that could be defended for a long time just by one or two dragons… Quick assault might work, but if they manage to organise the defense fast enough, we won’t achieve anything in a timely manner._

“IceWing. Hoarfrost. How is the ore transported to the surface?” the SeaWing princess asked him, her breath slowly coming back to normal.

“Via large and heavy carts. There are several dragons that are pushing them back to the surface, when these are full. There are barred doors on the way to the higher levels, which could be easily blocked by the guards. In fact they’re only opening them when the carts arrive to be unloaded.”

“Are there any other established chokepoints, besides this and the main gate?” Deluge asked him, the first plans already hatching in her head.

_Those carts... They could certainly be loaded with ore... But if some of this ore would be replaced by a heavily armored SeaWing, who would be unloaded behind the backs of the SkyWing guards..? That could certainly be a rather tragic scenario for those monsters..._

“No, but there are several harsh turns, some other tight tunnels, but a lot of them can be avoided entirely,” the IceWing responded, his eyes were looking for Deluge nervously. “And could we please hurry..? If my dragonet is still alive, I want to help her. Even if it means siding with you… I know two secret tunnels that bypass the choke point blocking us from higher levels completely, leading straight into the large cavern, primarily used for the gathering of miners. One was discovered already, as it was used during… The uprising, but the spare one is still hidden.”

Suddenly a scream echoed through the caves so loudly that it made Deluge jump. Someone was wailing from pain. Hearing this, Hoarfrost attempted to straighten his wings, but the metal clamps were firmly keeping them folded.

“That’s her! That’s my Shimmer!” he exclaimed, before Deluge smothered his words with her talon. He glanced where he thought she was, still trying to scream through her fingers. “I-I have to help her!”

“Calm down, we won’t help her if you alert all of the guards to come down here and ruin our element of surprise,” she hissed at him. “We-”

“There are nearly no guards before the first chokepoint!” he roared, his talons started shaking from stress as he grasped her forearm. “They only come down there to either dump the bodies or punish the prisoners if they don’t deliver enough ore! S-something happened to my little Shimmer!”

Pained sobbing echoed through the tunnels. Nobody was approaching the stone bridge, apparently nobody heard the IceWing yet. She let go of Hoarfrost’s snout, but he still kept one of her talons in his grasp. Delta growled at the IceWing, making him finally let go of her.

“Princess Deluge, I beg you… She’s all I have...” Hoarfrost mumbled, drooping his snout.

_He’s a parent… Would I hesitate if I heard my tiny Sapphire crying like that? No. What if SkyWings came down and they’re doing something horrible to IceWing’s dragonet right now? There’s no time to waste. Sometimes certain risk is necessary for the greater good._

“Heralds of the Tide, it’s time to avenge those wasted lives, secure the first tunnel - we’re proceeding into the mine,” the SeaWing princess said and waved her talon, signalling them to move. Instantly ten pairs of wings answered her call as her SeaWings took off, their battle-ready armor rattling echoed through the cavern. Delta stayed beside her, warily watching the IceWing. “We’ll save your daughter, Hoarfrost. But you’ll show us this secret tunnel. I will take you with us. Delta, get the keys from those dead SkyWings and free Hoarfrost’s wings.”

* * *

“What the- You ran over her on purpose!”

“And why does such a small detail matter to you?”

Deluge swiftly moved through the shadows, carefully avoiding the light of the oil lanterns hanging from the wooden beams, quietly approaching the sounds of the commotion. Suddenly, the dragonet’s sobbing stopped. Hoarfrost gasped behind Deluge’s back.

“Delta, keep him quiet,” Deluge hissed and Delta immediately obeyed, smothering any words that could come from IceWing’s snout. She couldn’t allow SkyWings to discover her and her Heralds yet. She slowly approached the sharp turn in the tunnel, and peeked from behind the edge, making sure the darkness concealed her snout. Further down the tunnel three scrawny, dirty and pathetic looking dragons stood around the two connected carts filled to the brim with stone that glittered in the light of the nearby oil lamps, either held by the prisoners or wooden supports. Below the first of those wagons, a small IceWIng dragonet was trembling and her blue blood was puddling all around her on the ground and rails. Brown dragon was smothering her sobbing with her talon.

“Kill her quickly, guards won’t come down here and we will get some hearty meal for once,” the incredibly scrawny SeaWing hissed, her tongue already licking her lips greedily. Small IceWing was shaking from blood loss, probably not realising what was happening around her at this point.

_Moons, they want to… Do what!? We don’t have much time if she is to survive..._

The SeaWing princess waved her tail at her soldiers waiting behind the corner, signalling them to proceed with care and she shortly after lowered her body, nearly touching the ground with her stomach and crouched towards the barrels placed near the closest wooden beam.

“How could you say something like this? She can make it out alive, if we help her-” nearby SandWing hissed. His scales were bleak, almost white yellow, lack of the desert sun and warmth visibly took a toll on him.

“Infection will kill her anyway, no need to waste time, IceWing flesh is cold and hard, but very nutritious, you will see,” SeaWing snarled, nervously looking into the other end of the tunnel, presumably watching if the guards are approaching. “Though she may be softer, younger ones still have a little bit more fat on them, so quick, before the guards see!”

Deluge looked back at Cobalt who peeked from behind the corner. The SeaWing princess pointed at the beam supporting the opposite wall of the tunnel; Cobalt quietly ducked behind the support, covering the SeaWing princess from the side.

“You disgust me,” the SandWing snarled, getting closer to the cart and the MudWing. “Don’t kill that small IceWing, help me turn over this wagon, MudWing.”

“I’m just trying to survive. There was another dragon like you, really moral and squeamish SeaWing. He never ate the flesh of fallen dragons. He went insane from hunger and died shortly after. All he had was just bones on him, not the most nutritious food. But look at her! So tasty...” SeaWing prisoner hissed, as she slowly approached the shaking dragonet. 

_She wants to kill and eat a dragonet!? She’s a SeaWing, I shouldn’t kill her, but… I can’t allow her to kill IceWing’s daughter! In this case tribe is meaningless!_

Deluge slowly drew a javelin from her quiver, a quiet sound of wood scraping against the leather answered from the nearby beam as well; Cobalt readied her weapon, nodding. 

MudWing looked conflicted, her glance jumping from one dragon to another. Her own stomach appeared to be sunk by hunger as well.

“I wouldn’t ever consider you the most sane dragon either,” the desert dragon approached the cart from the side. “Ignore her and help me from the other side, we need to overturn it, MudWing.”

_But Moons, do I really have to do it..?_

Deluge looked at her. Unknown SeaWing’s ribs were visible from below her dirty weathered blue scales. One of her eyelids on her bloodshot eyes was twitching from time to time. Her tail was shorter than usual SeaWing’s, ending with a badly healed rugged stump, even a piece of her spine was sticking out of it.

_She was through a lot. She’s just another victim of SkyWing cruelty. Should I really blame her for merely trying to survive this hell..? If I was in this situation wouldn’t I reject morals too, just to come back to my little Sapphire and beloved Silentskies..? Although I wouldn’t go as far to kill someone for my own survival… Especially someone so little, innocent and defenseless… What if someone did that to my little Sapphire? Moons, SkyWings are monsters, forcing dragons to do this… I should’ve killed Scarlet when I had the opportunity..._

The SeaWing princess carefully laid the feathered end of her javelin on the rocky ground, Cobalt raised her brows in confusion, but did the same.

_Guards are not coming, maybe I should just approach them. SeaWing and MudWing are from our alliance and shouldn't make trouble for us. And SandWing seems to have a heart in the right place._

“Shame they wasted so much meat when they dumped the bodies down that chasm. The feast we could’ve had...” SeaWing hissed, her stomach grumbling. “I won’t allow you to waste this opportunity! We will starve if we won’t-”

“You want to kill an innocent dragonet just to eat?” Mudwing spoke for the first time.

“See how delusional she is? Come, help me get the dragonet out of this.” SandWing interjected.

“I haven’t eaten anything for a week...” MudWing mumbled weakly.

“You’re better than this, Moor,” SandWing spoke and laid his talon on her brown shoulder. “Maybe this time we will be able to get the food...”

“Like the last time!? They haven’t even left scraps for us!” Moor cried out, as the tears began running down her snout. “Look, I don’t want to die down here!”

“Will to live is not a bad thing, Moor,” SeaWing snarled from the side. “And nobody will help you down there, SandWing, so if you ever hoped that Blister, Coral or Moorhen care about what we have to endure down here-”

_Time to risk it, they are all from our alliance._

“Maybe they don’t, but I do,” the SeaWing princess stood up and walked towards the prisoners, her tail signalling her soldiers to leave their hideout as well. “I, Princess Deluge of the SeaWings, came here to shut down this operation. Cobalt, help this poor IceWing. If you do as much as a move towards the dragonet, Moor or you - SeaWing; you will be having an uncomfortable wooden shaft sticking out of your heart before you can say: ‘cannibalism’.”

MudWing sat down and covered her eyes with her talons, fully breaking into tears. Cobalt passed her and both she and SandWing wordlessly began asserting the situation of the IceWing dragonet. Metal rattled behind the SeaWing princess, even smothered mumbling could be heard. Obviously Hoarfrost wanted to run to his dragonet. Deluge’s soldiers swiftly secured the entire tunnel, leaving sentries on the far ends.

“Y-your majesty?” the scrawny SeaWing mumbled in disbelief, bowing before Deluge, her entire body shaking.

“You’re coming back to the Sea Kingdom,” the SeaWing princess responded coldly. “But to be tried for attempting to murder this innocent dragonet. Killing another defenseless dragon is inexcusable, no matter the circumstance. You better pray to the Moons she survives.”

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t know- I just wanted to survive- I… I-” she crawled to Deluge and bowed even lower. “I beg you, your majesty, I wouldn’t do such a thing if I weren’t forced… I just wanted to come back to my family… I have a dragonet back in the Sea Kingdom, please don’t make him an orphan after all of this… If not for me, for him… And his father...”

Behind bowing SeaWing’s back, Cobalt with help of the SandWing raised the wagon just enough to grab bleeding IceWing by her tail to safety.

“Yet you felt capable of taking away the dragonet from her parent,” Deluge wrinkled her snout at the trembling SeaWing and lowered her voice to whispering hiss. “If little Shimmer dies, I’ll let her father decide your fate. What is your name?”

“L-Lyretail, B-but, your majesty, I- I thought he was dead, and-”

“That doesn’t make your act any more justifiable,” Deluge hissed angrily. Lyretail huddled herself in front of the SeaWing princess, covering her eyes with her talons fearfully. “Stay here or my soldiers will kill you right away.”

_Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on her… Of course, she did something horrible, but at the same time… She’s a mother with a family… Like me… Maybe if the question of meeting my little Sapphire again was at stake, then wouldn’t I try to do something as atrocious, just to hold her again in my talons..? Honestly the thought that even I might not meet my Sapphire ever again, because of living such a dangerous life..._

She shook her head and looked away at the young dragonet. She was not moving.

“Sh-shimmer...” Hoarfrost choked out from behind. 

“My friend, let him go and please patch up that young IceWing,” she spoke, walking towards the small Shimmer. As soon as Hoarfrost was set free, he ran to the side of his dragonet, laying his talons on her small body. She had a wide, bleeding cut near her shoulder, her broken collarbone being visible from below her brutally lacerated scales. Her eyes were widely opened. She looked like that IceWing dragonet in the chasm, but her bright blue chest was rising and falling slowly.

_Good thing she’s unconscious now. Can’t imagine how painful it has to be._

“Shimmer, l-look at me!” Hoarfrost croaked and shook her body. “Wake up my baby!”

“Delta, provide first aid for her, Cobalt, assist if needed,” the SeaWing princess ordered firmly. “And if you wish your daughter to live, don’t get in their way, Hoarfrost.”

Hesitantly, adult IceWing withdrew, allowing two SeaWings to attend to his daughter. He sat down, staring at Shimmer with terror in his eyes.

“M-my little Shimmer...” he mumbled, covering his snout with his wounded wings. He was still bleeding from numerous wounds in his scales, yet he only seemed to care about her.

Despite being a princess, Deluge felt an annoying urge to gently embrace and comfort him, to reassure him that Shimmer will survive.

_I really shouldn’t do that. As much as I hate it, we’re the enemies in this war… Even though he’s just a dragon like me. Not a soulless monster like those useless, lying leaflets say. Ugly reality is that the monsters are rarely found on the battlefields, or pillaged cities. Some of them have crowns on their heads. Or just want them really badly. Moons, I was so close to slaughtering this SkyWing piece of- No point in crying over a spilled milk. The present is much more important.  
_

Two of her soldiers were already standing guard watching the place where the tunnel split in two different directions.

_We need to proceed with our assault on the mine as soon as possible. There’s not a lot of time left before the sunrise. I have to take away the IceWIng to show me where this secret passage is and what is the correct way to the entrance._

“Hoarfrost..?” she began. He just shook his head in response. “Could you show us this secret tunnel?”

“I- I can’t leave my little baby,” he mumbled. “L-look at her! How could I leave her now when she’s… Just look at what they’ve done to her! I have to stay with my little girl!”

_Normal behaviour expected from a royal dragon would be to use force to make him do my bidding. Knock out several of his teeth or threaten him or his daughter with death. But screw the etiquette… As if I ever cared about it anyway._

Deluge gently placed her talon on his shoulder and slowly twined her armored tail around his. IceWing shivered under her touch and revealed his tearing eyes he tried to cover under his wings.

“W-w… Y-your majesty..?” he asked fearfully.

“Hoarfrost. I understand you’re a father. Just like I myself I’m a mother of my little dragonet back in the Sea Kingdom. I understand that you’d do everything you can to save your Shimmer,” she said softly. “But I need your help, just right now. All of my soldiers are expertly trained in first aid, Delta even took additional training in more advanced ways of treating injuries. He will save your little daughter. He even managed to preserve my own life long enough for the expert healers to tend to me when I got my skull split open and the artery in my armpit got torn apart.”

“B-but… She has no healers to go to...” he mumbled, staring at her armored tail. “This looks serious, and...”

_I will have to take her back. Her and Thunderhead’s SkyWing. Still doable in one go. Then it means we have even less time to secure the mine._

“Hoarfrost I swear I will take her back to my healers that will ensure her survival, if you help me. I have an animus touched stone that will allow her to breathe underwater just like me,” she spoke firmly, as he looked up to her with his face streaked in his cold tears. “Look, I need to secure the mine as fast as possible to save your daughter, since I brought this artifact to get someone else out of here. Without said dragon I’m not making a trip just with your dragonet, so please you need to show us the secret tunnel, if you wish to give your Shimmer a chance of survival. There’s no time to waste.”

“I- I see...” he glanced at his dragonet, even reaching out longingly to her with his talon. “I will help you, your majesty, but… Please, save my little Shimmer...”

“We will,” the SeaWing princess nodded, while the IceWing stood up shakily, untangling his tail from hers.

“Follow me, your highness, I will show you...”

Deluge followed the IceWing and soon she and her soldiers began their march towards the tunnel embranchment. When the SeaWing princess was passing Delta, he caught her talon in the middle of the step.

“Deluge do you really trust him?” he was holding her forearm with his talon stained with blue blood. His hind leg was nervously digging in the rocky ground. “I should go with you, even if you do.”

Deluge looked at the IceWing who stopped to look at his daughter once more before leaving. He was shaking from stress, seeing the SeaWing princess wasting precious time.

“I am. And stay here to save his daughter. I will uphold my part of the deal,” Deluge responded firmly. “And so will he. He loves his baby, there’s no point for him to betray me.”

“If you say so...” Delta said, yet a shade of worry remained on his green snout.

“Delta, I will be okay,” the SeaWing princess responded, wriggling her talon from his grasp as she walked past him to join the IceWIng. "Oh and if you have something to eat give that to those three dragons. Even Lyretail. We're not SkyWings, we can't let them starve."

He nodded and threw a satchel with his rations towards three prisoners and soon enough all of them tore it open to greedily claim the fish and other food it contained.

_Besides I have my own dragonet to return to. And I will return to her. No more unnecessary risks like with Scarlet. Eight professional soldiers, besides me, should be more than enough to deal with any opposition, if we have surprise on our side.  
_


	25. Silentskies

Black dragon looked down at his dragonets, both of their tails twined together as they calmly slept under the safety and warmth of his wings. It was already long after dark, but despite trying to get used to the SeaWing biological clock, he still tended to wake up in the middle of the night by his NightWing nature and due to the dreams that haunted him ever since Sapphire was hatched. Bioluminescent scales of his daughters mildly lit up the soft mattress and Silentskies’ silver scales on the underside of his wings which glittered and reflected their light back on them, allowing him to see his dragonets. While Sapphire was sleeping soundly the entire night, Shrimp sometimes mumbled words, suddenly flashing her scales and once nearly rolled over a smaller dragonet. He gently stroked her orange snout, making her scales lit up in a question: _“Why? How?”._ Something was visibly troubling her. Unfortunately he couldn’t see her scales, other than the snout ones, that could form a full question. He was curious as to what Shrimp was saying but he didn’t want to accidentally wake her up over a bad dream. She deserved some sleep after Sapphire’s recent condition put everyone on edge. 

_Will ask her about it in the morning. Maybe she’ll still remember what this was about. Something is definitely fishy there. If something troubles her, she should absolutely go and talk to me so we can solve such problems together, she’s as much of my dragonet as Sapphy._

He placed his glittering wing on her orange back, gently stroking her. Shrimp’s scales stopped flashing, subsiding into a dim, calm light, just like Sapphire’s.

“Shame my own dragonet won’t have a father like you,” Starsight sighed from behind his back.

“Can’t say Sapphire has a good mother though,” Silentskies whispered, careful not to wake up his dragonets. “I mean, she has definitely a good heart, but at the same time when she laid her eggs… I think she wasn’t ready for them yet. It came literally out of nothing, surprising us both and in fact saving our relationship. Deluge decided to forgive me for my initial motivations towards her, just to create a loving family for our dragonets.”

NightWing shape was lying in front of a dark crystal window, her black scales glittering in the moonlight, as she watched the calm waves splashing against the pristine beach outside. Silentskies found her in this position numerous times already. She always was meditating in the light of the moon, blissfully smiling and relaxing her pained body, now healing after a long time of borderline starvation in the Night Kingdom.

“It’s rather odd that she didn’t know about her eggs… I mean, at the later stages you can physically feel them so that sort of baffles me how she was so unaware of her own body,” Starsight shook her head, looking down at her front talons. “And… She’s a warrior too! During some of her training sessions she could have crushed them unknowingly… That’s a big problem back… back home.”

“You see, eggs require a healthy diet in order to develop a strong and resistant shell. And SeaWings eat such food in large amounts, thus they have possibly the most resistant eggs of all tribes, while our own tribe is eating carrion. And as you can imagine makes the eggs really different... SeaWing mothers can in fact do everything as normal when they carry them, but at the same time… ” he gently placed his talon on Sapphire’s small head. She slightly shivered through her sleep. “Weaker dragonets can’t breach the shell. I read about the reports of SeaWing babies not being able to do so in poorly supervised hatcheries, starving to death to the shock of their parents, hence the SeaWings have the specifically destined dragons that are responsible for egg care. Though-” he abruptly stopped and gently stroked Sapphire’s head again.

“Though what?” Starsight squinted her eyes suspiciously, getting up.

“Let’s not dwell on this grim subject any-”

“What if I’d decide to dwell on it instead?” she brought up her innocent curious dragonet face he always saw whenever she wanted to convince their father into doing something. “You started it, let's finish then. Especially when this matter could also be about my egg as well, since my diet changed quite a lot lately.”

“It is not.”

Starsight raised her brow with irritation.

_Dear sister, why do you have to be so inquisitive on this occasion..?_

“Allright, there were some cases where parents decided to not assist their dragonets, since they could turn out to be too weak for this world… Particularly common in parents who saw their dragonets as future warriors.”

“Oh… Ohh,” Starsight looked down, embarrassed. “I see... I’m sorry.”

“At least she loves her now despite this, right?” Silentskies sighed, moving sleeping Sapphire slightly closer to his body.

“But you said that Deluge was really protective of her eggs before they hatched...” She carefully reasoned.

“She wanted to give them the biggest chances of survival until hatching, warming them up herself and keeping a watchful eye... She hoped that this will make our dragonets stronger and there will still be hope for them to breach eggshell on their own. At least when she heard Sapphy’s helpless suffocated squeal, she quickly changed her mind and saved her while I- I tried to do the same for Dusk...”

_Would Dusk have lived if she hadn't hesitated with assistance and later showed him affection he deserved? Probably yes… If those two things hadn't happened he’d be still alive and with me, under my wing, together with Sapphy and Shrimpy..._

Starsight got up carefully and sat down near him, placing one of her starry wings on his back.

“I’m so sorry for your son, Sky,” she spoke calmly. “If- If you ever wanted to talk about him, I’m here.”

“Thank you...” Silentskies sighed. “It’s just that I miss him so much… I dreamed numerous times how it would be if he still lived. How I would try to teach him how to walk with just his front legs and tail… I even imagined once how he came back from dragonet school with Sapphy and he was crying how others were laughing at him… I tried to comfort and calm him down, saying that it is alright that he hatched different… Just to fade away as I tried to embrace him… Those dreams always felt so real... ”

Starsight wordlessly embraced him and twined her tail around his.

“There was even a time, nearly straight after his death, when I just spent hours trying to get back to sleep just to see him a little bit longer. Tell him how much I would love him to be with me, Sapphy and Shrimp...”

“Have you talked about it with a SeaWing Soul Seeker..?” 

“Yes. She offered me a way to try to cope with Dusk’s death. But I already adopted Shrimpy by this time… No, she wanted to try making Dusk unable to appear in my dreams, cutting off any connection his soul still had at a time to my own,” Silentskies sobbed as the shape of his sister started getting blurry. “I couldn’t agree to that. He always looked so sad, even as he smiled when I saw him in my dreams… I felt as if my presence and attention made him just a little bit happier. I felt like I still could be his dad... Could you imagine abruptly and completely cutting off your contact with your baby who loves you and you feel the same about him..? Even if such contact was a little bit unusual..?”

Starsight slowly shook her head, but looked at him with understanding in her purple eyes.

“What did you do then?”

“I made a mistake. I began neglecting my living babies, just to spend some more time with Dusk. I started drinking sleeping potions, taking various questionable substances, just to make his image even more real, almost physical,” He stopped and took a deep breath. “One day I overdosed, nearly killing myself. Deluge was then, of course, on one of her campaigns, she had no idea this ever happened. Sapphy was too small to do anything, fortunately she doesn’t even remember that day, so Shrimp and other servants had to carry my pathetic, drooling body to the manor’s infirmary. And then Dusk showed himself for the last time.”

Silentskies let his head lean against Starsight’s shoulder. She gently embraced him and started stroking his long neck.

“He said… “Daddy… I love you, but… If you are forced to do something like this just to see me… Maybe it would be better for us to separate? It is not your time yet, daddy… Who will hug Sapphy if you’d come to me? You look really sick and I feel that’s because of me… I don’t want you to be hurt because of me, I love you, remember? I will disappear for now so don’t try to look for me. But when the time is right find me, okay? You and mommy? Oh and remember to tell mommy that I forgive her! I would be terrified if I saw myself too!” He… He laughed so beautifully and hugged me then. I embraced him back, but then he just started fading… His last words were “Don’t be sad, daddy… Stay strong and give a good example for Sapphy! I might actually come back to you sooner than you expect, daddy… You’d just need to recognise me and remind me who I am. I may look different, but our souls will remember each other. Regardless daddy, whenever you’re sad, remember that I will always love you… And we will meet each other again… I will find you or you will find me...” And since then he never returned to me.” He closed his watering eyes. “Oddly, I found it calming and reassuring… But Moons, I still miss him so much… I feel my resolve wavering… I still keep some of my potions in case I couldn’t handle his absence any more, just to attempt seeing him once more, even though it can kill me...”

“You have your Sapphy and Shrimp. They need your care and attention now, while Dusk looks grateful for what you did to him already…” He opened his eyes just to see Starsight looking at him with compassion. “Take care of the present and the future, since they matter the most. You nearly killed yourself over the shadows of the past, Sky… What would’ve become of Sapphire then? Think about your little gemling. She’s your dragonet too! Don’t you find it wrong if you decided to be unfair to her? Do you love her less than Dusk?”

“Maybe you’re right. Like Dusk,” Silentskies sighed. “But you don’t know how I feel… The loss of him… I still feel it deeply. Like a wound in my soul I tried to patch and soothe with adoption of Shrimpy… She certainly saved my life, but it still hurts...”

“True, I don’t know how it feels to lose a dragonet. And I hope I won’t have to ever go through that. But I see that you’re doing your best to care for your Sapphy and that is impressive. I’m not telling you to forget about your Dusk, for you will indeed meet him once more,” She whispered calmly. “I bet it would make Dusk happy if he sees you enjoying your life with Sapphire. So don’t make him sad by being upset about his absence. He did that for your and Sapphire’s good, brother. He is a very loving dragonet.”

Silentskies lifted his head from Starsight’s shoulder and looked down at his dragonets huddled under his black wing.

“You’re right. My little Sapphy… I’d do everything to make you safe and happy,” he sobbed. One of his tears accidentally dropped on Sapphire’s dark blue scales. She shivered. “I love you so much...”

“Daddy..?” a voice yawned from below Silentskies’ wing.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Are you crying..? What happened?” her beautiful green eyes glittered in the faint light of Shrimp’s scales. Sapphire carefully sat up, untangling her tail from Shrimp’s. “Are you alright, dad?”

“Of course I am, Sapphy,” Silenskies whispered, trying to hide his tears from her. “As long as you are here, I can’t be sad, my little sweetheart. You always brighten my nights, just like a gentle moonlight. I will always keep you safe.”

“I love you too, daddy,” Sapphire said and embraced Silentskies’ front leg “But why are you so worried about me?”

_I shouldn’t tell her about the assassins. She’s too small for that and I don’t want to scare her. What if it will lead her to panic? That could cause the same stroke she suffered last time._

“You got really sick lately and I just can’t stop until I know what that was and make sure it won’t happen again,” Silentskies responded, allowing small Sapphire to lie down on his shoulder. “That’s why I’m keeping you there until professionals will arrive and determine the cause.”

“You… You think it was magic, right dad?”

“Yes, my sweetheart. Court healers or I never saw anything like what happened to you,”

He said quietly and wiped the remaining tears from his snout. “And that’s why I’m summoning special dragons for help; they know a lot about magical afflictions and no matter what got into you, they will eliminate that. You will be safe, Sapphy, and nothing like that will ever happen again.”

“But dad… I read a little bit about this Order of the Unending Flame… And I’m scared of them,” Sapphire said, embracing her father’s front leg a little bit stronger as she placed her small and narrow snout on his neck. “I know what they did to their subjects and… I don’t want them to do something like that to me.”

 _Hmm… She must be talking about the historical records of animi mutilated by them. But she’s not the one, she failed her Talons of Power test, that was being performed for thousands of years already! SeaWings are possibly the most experienced tribe with the animus magic, not counting the…_ **_IceWings_** _... There’s no way she’s an animus._

“Sapphy, you are not an animus monster. You are my little daughter and because of that you have nothing to fear,” he responded in a calm manner. “If you want, I can be with you during the examination.”

“Dad, I just know that this thing won’t happen again… And I’m safe now, so maybe you could just call them off?” she tried again.

“Sapphy, my dear-”

“But maybe she’s right?” Starsight suddenly cut him off, lifting her wing off Silentskies’ back as she stood up and walked to stand in front of him. “I believe you should trust your Sapphire if she’s certain...”

“And you’re still against me on that?” he wrinkled his snout. “I don’t want to depend upon a word, when it comes to Sapphy’s safety! I need to be sure.”

“Even if it is your daughter’s word?”

“She’s young, she has no idea what she’s talking about or what’s good for her! I won’t take unnecessary risks!” Silentskies growled, embracing Sapphire protectively with his wing.

_I won’t lose her like Dusk. I won’t risk her life. Period._

“Daddy-”

“No!”, his entire body shook as he growled.

“But what if she’s an animus? Isn’t there a risk that she might be one?” Starsight hissed. “You know what they will do to her if they come to that conclusion!? And you say you don’t want to take risks?”

_No… My little Sapphy couldn’t be animus, but..._

“Sweetheart, do you know anything about this..?” he spoke in a soft tone, looking down at her. “Are you _an animus_?”

“A-animus..?” a small dragonet squealed in horror, tears appearing in her green eyes. “H-how can you say something like that about me, daddy..?”

Silentskies looked back at his sister. She had an uncertain expression on her snout, nervously biting her lower lip, but noticing the gaze of her brother, she swiftly started looking at Sapphire with visible concern.

_Hmph, slow one, Starsight… She knows something. But she won’t tell me. And Sapphy acts as if she had a guilt weighing on her… This whole situation smells fishy. Is Sapphy really an animus..? One way to find out..._

“Hey, it’s alright Sapphy… I’m not accusing you of something… Could we please make sure you aren’t one?” Silentskies softly spoke, gently stroking a small dark blue head with his wing claw. “If you are one I swear I will love you all the same and we will forget about this Order. Sapphy, look at me.”

Green eyes full of tears glanced at him from below. Sapphire was shaking.

“Don’t be nervous, little one. I’m your father, right?” Silentskies spoke softly. “You can tell me everything that troubles you and I will love you all the same.”

“B-but if I’m an animus w-what then..?” she choked out and looked down at sleeping Shrimp, shaking even more.

_She’s afraid of Shrimpy? Her beloved sister? Why in the Moons? This raises even more questions than answers… Everything tells me to fake out what to tell her… But she’s my daughter! Maybe a little bit of honesty will make her reveal herself?_

“Well, first of all we will have to tell your mom and get the SeaWing king or queen involved,” Sapphire grasped his leg stronger. Silentskies paused for a while.

_Oh, right, she likes her uncle more._

“I mean preferably king. I believe contacting Gill first about this will be the safest way to prepare Coral for such information. And then of course formalities and we will get someone from the Council of Magic to help you manage your potential gift. Whirlpool, if I recall correctly… He seems to be a little bit slippery and unhealthily ambitious, as Cuttlefish said, but he won’t do anything to you if you’re protected by me and my SeaWing spymaster friend, right?”

Sapphire gulped loudly.

“I’m not an animus,” she tried to speak firmly but her voice cracked from stress.

“Of course I always knew you aren’t,” he looked down on her warily, trying to look more nonchalant and relaxed after this information, as if it was solving everything. Yet he remained alert behind his mask. “I’m sorry I made you so stressed, Sapphy. I will stay with you during the examination and we will interrupt it whenever you wish, alright Sapphy?”

She slightly relaxed. Starsight walked around them and laid down in front of Silentskies, placing her talon on Sapphire’s small shoulder.

“Though… If you’re not an animus, maybe you should try to enchant something?” black dragon requested.

“E-enchant..?” Sapphire choked out, looking at him with a wide eyed stare. Starsight retracted her talon.

_Of course my sister doesn’t like that I toy with Sapphy’s emotions like that, making the possibility of her slipping up higher. I hate using this strategy on her, but if it’s for her good..._

“Well, if you’re not an animus you shouldn’t be afraid of that, right?” Silentskies reasoned. Sapphire immediately took a deep breath and nodded, trying to calm herself down. NightWing father squinted his eyes.

_That’s most certainly interesting. Especially her reaction._

“I- I enchant this table to jump three times,” a small dragonet squawked, pointing her tiny silver talon at a palm wood table, littered with numerous jewelry pieces she crafted. Neither table, nor the glittering trinkets did as much as budge to her command.

Silentskies breathed a sigh of relief, and hugged the tiny dragonet with his wing even stronger and planted a gentle kiss on her small forehead, stroking the fin on her back she inherited from her SeaWing mother.

_My little baby is not an animus… Thank the Moons… Something magical “just” cursed her then… But at least the specialists will deal with the animus evil within her very soon..._

“I’m so sorry that I doubted your words, Sapphy...” he spoke softly. “You were telling me the truth all along... I’m like that only because I love you so much, and can’t even handle the thought that something cursed is harming you, my little sweetheart.”

“It’s alright daddy… I don’t know what it is either,” she whispered. “But when those dragons are coming?”

“Tomorrow,” Silentskies said calmly, as Starsight wrinkled her snout. Sapphire hugged his arm stronger. “We will finally discover whatever put you into a coma.”

“Alright, but daddy..?”

“Yes, Sapphy?”

“No matter what they find, could you promise me that you won’t leave me?”

_Oh. So she knows something more than she reveals… I don’t have a heart to continue this stressful conversation for her any longer. Hopefully a few more hours without knowing more won’t have bad consequences… Even though in practice thinking like that is delusional. But Moons, she's my daughter, not some kind of informer, and I'm not a spy anymore!_

“Of course, little one. You are my beloved daughter, how could I ever abandon you?”

Sapphire just murmured quietly, clutching her father’s arm even stronger with her tiny silver talons. He carefully placed his wing on her back, making sure that both Sapphire and Shrimp were covered by it, like by a warm blanket. Looking more reassured, his small dragonet slowly closed her eyes.

“Let’s just sleep, brother,” Starsight yawned, lying down nearby and twining her long tail around his. She briefly glanced at him, with a look of disapproval in her purple eyes. “Tomorrow is an important day for you and your daughter.”

She laid on the side and closed her beautiful eyes. Silentskies sighed and looked down at his small daughter once more before doing the same.

_Oh Sapphy… Why can’t you just tell me what you’re hiding? What did I do wrong? Why are you so afraid..? Don’t you know how much I love you?_

* * *

Calming down slightly, Silentskies finally allowed blissful sleep to take him. He dreamt about the glorious obsidian spires of the Night Kingdom, he exchanged for gentle and delicate marble of the SeaWing architecture. Sometimes he questioned himself whether he chose wisely, but just one brief glance at his dragonets was always quickly reassuring him that this was in fact the best choice he made in his entire life. A nervous and hushed conversation started echoing from afar, oddly distorted and barely recognisable.

So much has changed since his depressing past life in that volcano Battlewinner dared to call home… Back when he was a spy, he had nothing to lose on his missions. He often saw possible death as a release from the cursed NightWing tribe that felt like a chain tangled around his leg, making him unable to fly… Despite his distaste of his “home”, he wanted to help his tribe in some way and that prevented him from escaping or leaving his tribe.

And then he met Deluge and truly got to know her after saving her life. How he saw her genuine interest and compassion about his fate… Back home nobody cared about that. Everyone was suffering there, maybe except the queen. Nobody did anything to change that horrible status quo. And now a princess he loved was seeing his pain and even she out of gratitude proposed to convince SeaWing queen to take some willing refugees..? With her help he could save some of the NightWings and most importantly his sister who still blindly believed in their queen… Maybe with Deluge he could talk some sense to her...

_"Are you sure it will work?"_

_"Yes, it worked (...). And besides(...). You will be safe."_

Then the last trip to the Night Kingdom. First stealthily getting possibly the best NightWing blacksmiths and armorsmiths to the extraction point, along with the twenty others, as they agreed before. Everything went smoothly, until the ground started shaking as the volcano began spitting out the molten rocks out of its fiery bowels. All of this happened abruptly, almost in a blink of an eye.

_"S(...), I'm scared."_

Burning and screaming NightWings falling from the skies, horrified black dragonets huddling in the ruins in horror. Night got almost as bright as day in seconds, lit up by multiple fires that spread across whatever remained from NightWing architecture from previous eruptions. Entire palace wing was flooded by the molten stone, black spires collapsing with their foundations destabilised. His and Starsight’s home was crumbling. Place where they spent their time together when life was way simpler. He promised himself to protect his little sister, back when he left the Night Kingdom for the first time. He had to come back for her.

_"You'll be safe I swear."_

Horror that almost caused him to blow his and allied SeaWing’s cover. Without thinking Silentskies rushed to the building, but it was too late. Only charred corpses remained by the time he got there. One of them held his little sister’s earring in its talons. He froze not being able to accept that his Starsight was very likely dead. He just couldn’t move. Last remaining family member he loved. Now dead in the same way as his mother and father in previous eruptions. Extinguished by the flame of the island that used to tolerate and provide for the NightWing tribe. Despite the fact that there was nothing holding him back there anymore, he couldn’t move. In a weird way he felt certain guilt that he left his past life like that, even though the future looked so bright… Something hit him in the head, as his consciousness slipped into darkness. 

_“Sister… Be with me there… Please?”_

He would have died there if not for Deluge’s and her soldiers’ bravery. They rushed into the collapsing part of the palace, dragging his body out of there while trying to save as many NightWings along the way as possible. He awakened in the hidden cave near the beach of Night Kingdom. Love of his life was holding him in her firm but shaken embrace. Debris broke her left front leg and her chestplate was badly melted by the lava, now lying discarded nearby.

They both started crying. Despite saving around fifty NightWings (mostly consisting of recently orphaned dragonets) who were willing to accept the terms of living in the Sea Kingdom under Deluge’s protection and responsibility, there were around forty burned corpses in the same cave. Nearly a half of Deluge’s friends and soldiers tragically gave their life, trying to selflessly save dragons who were completely alien to them. Worse, who under any other circumstances would’ve attacked and killed them for trespassing in the territory of the “Glorious NightWing Kingdom”. 

Since that day, his love for Deluge got even stronger and he made up his mind about revealing all of his and his tribe’s secrets to her. After all, a good and sustainable portion of the NightWing population now lived and even thrived on the eastern frontier of the Sea Kingdom on the Islands of Mists. It was a rather concealed archipelago, which was more or less unknown to the other tribes, among many others that still remain as the most guarded secrets of the SeaWing cartographers.

They lived, being fed by the SeaWings, while they provided knowledge and expertise when it came to armorsmithing, architecture, alchemy and medicine which were far more advanced than that of the SeaWings. Though, their innovations weren’t able to spread due to Queen Coral, who couldn’t trust them, being a staunch traditionalist who visibly despised NightWings and his own marriage with princess Deluge. Instead she tried to isolate his kin and so far their advancements only had influence on the closest SeaWings living near the Islands of the Mists and Deluge’s elite unit in form of armors and weapons created from the scarce and resistant metal that was only present in the deep underwater ravines and caves. That gift from the NightWings seemed like a good payment for Deluge's kindness.

He felt so grateful for what Deluge has given to him… His life wasn’t pointless suffering anymore, thanks to her.

Though in the way she complicated everything… Since Dusk’s death, he hasn't been the same dragon as before. Every single time Deluge went to war, he couldn’t endure the overwhelming worry for her life. He loved her so much that he couldn’t bear the thought of what would happen if she died. Not only that, but also what would become of him and Sapphire? He could imagine that Coral could’ve killed or exiled them for “tainting” the royal SeaWing bloodline...

And when Sapphire got sick, he decided to take radical measures, just to keep her safe. Then, unexpectedly, his sister turned out to be alive and seeking his help in desperation, which he couldn’t refuse.

Now he had everything to lose and the harsh truth was that despite his efforts, all of those he valued seemed to be in constant danger and fear for their life drained him mentally…


End file.
